Best Local LLMs for AI Coding Tools
Every coding agent here runs open-weight models through Ollama, llama.cpp, or LM Studio, fully on your machine. Tool-calling reliability decides the tier: an agent that fires read/write/bash calls hundreds of times per session fails on models that mangle structured tool calls, no matter how good their prose is. Pick the right local model for the tool you actually use.
Table 1Directory
Coding tools with local model rankings
10 tools| Tool | Category | Top pick | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude CodeAnthropic's terminal coding agent, driven by a local model | CLI agent | S Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | → |
| OpenCodeOpen-source terminal coding agent (Ollama / OpenAI-compatible) | CLI agent | S Qwen3.5 27B Instruct | → |
| OpenClawSelf-hosted agentic assistant with first-class Ollama support | Self-hosted agent | S Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | → |
| AiderTerminal AI pair-programmer with its own edit-format leaderboard | Terminal pair-programmer | S Qwen2.5 Coder 14B | → |
| ClineAutonomous coding agent for VS Code (formerly Claude Dev) | IDE extension | S Qwen3 30B | → |
| Roo CodeAutonomous VS Code agent with modes (a Cline fork) | IDE extension | S Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | → |
| Continue.devOpen-source chat, edit & autocomplete for VS Code / JetBrains | IDE extension | S Qwen2.5 Coder 14B | → |
| GooseBlock's open-source autonomous developer agent (MCP-driven) | CLI agent | S Qwen2.5 Coder 14B | → |
| Open Claude CodeOpen-source Claude Code CLI reimplementation, with an undocumented endpoint override for local models | CLI agent | S Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | → |
| CodexOpenAI's coding agent, driven by a local model via its built-in Ollama provider | CLI agent | S Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | → |
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