TipLocal Code: a free AI agent that works right on your Mac without sending your files away
The developers of the image app Draw Things have released Local Code, a free AI agent for Mac that runs the AI model on the computer itself. It can make slide decks, analyse spreadsheets and work with Word files without sending anything to a cloud service, and it even works offline. You need a Mac with Apple silicon and at least 16 GB of memory.
Most AI services, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, send what you type and the files you upload to the company’s servers. Local Code does the opposite. The app downloads an AI model to your Mac and runs it there. On 30 October the developers behind Draw Things released the finished version after a beta that started in September, and the whole app is open source.
Local Code is an agent, an AI that does not just answer but also carries out tasks. According to MacRumors it can create presentations, generate images and video, analyse spreadsheets and work with Word and PowerPoint files. It also has a built-in browser it can use to do things online. With your permission it can read Mail, Messages and Notes and make changes in Calendar and Photos.
Security is built on Apple’s App Sandbox, a macOS protection that limits what an app can do. Local Code can only use the folders you share with it, cannot read your whole disk and cannot launch other programs. It works without internet, and the cloud is only used if you choose a cloud model yourself.
Which Mac do you need? It depends on the model. The smallest, Qwen 3.8 27B, needs at least 16 GB of memory (32 GB recommended) and takes 10 to 21 GB of disk space. The larger DeepSeek models need at least 32 GB of memory and take 89 or 376 GB of disk. The models come from China’s Qwen and DeepSeek, but because they run on your computer nothing is sent to them. We have not seen an independent test of how good they are in Swedish or other Nordic languages.
What does it cost? Running AI locally is free. If you want a cloud model you can connect your own key from, for example, OpenAI or Anthropic, or buy prepaid credits from $9.99, about 98 Swedish kronor or 8.94 euros at the ECB rate of 30 October, with no subscription. Good to know: a local model on an ordinary laptop is slower and usually less capable than the big cloud services. Start with a file that is not sensitive. Not sure whether you need local AI? Use the prompt Local AI or cloud AI, and try our new prompt Analyse a spreadsheet and get a clear summary.
How to get started
- Check how much memory your Mac has: Apple menu, About This Mac. Less than 16 GB is not enough for local models.
- Make sure you have at least 25 GB free on your disk and download the app from getlocalcode.app.
- Choose the model the app suggests for your Mac and let it download. This can take a while.
- Create a test folder with a file that is not sensitive, share only that folder with the app and give a clear task. Check the result before you use the app on real files.
More on TipAI
Sources
- Draw Things: Local Code by Draw Things, open-source frontier intelligence locally on your Mac (30 okt 2026) (retrieved 2026-10-31)
- MacRumors: Local Code Launches as Free, Private AI Assistant Tool for Mac (30 okt 2026) (retrieved 2026-10-31)
- Local Code: officiell webbplats med modeller, minneskrav och priser (retrieved 2026-10-31)
- ECB: referenskurser 30 okt 2026 (retrieved 2026-10-31)
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