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Commander Desktop

Use a local model in Commander

Learn about Use a local model in Commander in WaymakerOS.

Local modelsPrivacyDesktop
Last updated: October 12, 2026•5 minutes read

A Local terminal in Commander Desktop runs an AI model on your own Mac. You get two things from it:

  • Privacy. Your prompts and the files the model reads are processed on your Mac, not sent to an AI provider. That makes it a good fit for confidential work: contracts, board papers, client files.
  • Low cost. A Local terminal uses no AI credits. Under a normal Claude Code session, hybrid sends routine tasks to your Mac so you spend less of your frontier allowance.

A local model is smaller than a frontier model, so expect simpler answers. Use it for focused, routine work.

What the terminal tells you

Every Local terminal shows a strip across its top for as long as it's open. It says exactly what you're getting.

A Local terminal (everything on your Mac) says:

"Private and free. This session runs on your Mac: your prompts and files are processed here, not sent to an AI provider, and it uses no AI credits. It's a smaller model, so expect simpler answers."

A Claude Code terminal with hybrid on says:

"Lower cost. Routine tasks run on your Mac. Your main model still runs with your provider, so what you send it leaves your Mac as usual."

Hybrid saves money. It is not a privacy setting: your main model still runs with your provider.

What still goes online

Even in a Local terminal, some things still use the network:

WhatWhy
Tools you approveWeb fetch, shell commands, and MCP servers you add can reach the internet when you let them.
My VaultMy Vault syncs to Waymaker, as it always does.
Downloading a modelThe first time, the model comes from Ollama's registry. After that it runs on your Mac.

What you need

RequirementDetail
A Mac with Apple silicon and at least 24 GB of memoryBelow 24 GB, Local terminals aren't offered.
OllamaThe app that runs the model. Install it from ollama.com/download (or brew install ollama).
Claude CodeA Local terminal runs Claude Code against the model on your Mac.
The Waymaker CLI, version 2.17.1 or laterCommander installs or upgrades it for you (below).

Which model

Your Mac's memoryModel
Under 24 GBNot available
24 GB and upgpt-oss:20b with a 64k context (the default, about 13 GB)
48 GB and upAlso qwen3-coder:30b (about 18 GB), faster for code, for Claude Code only

You need about one and a half times the model's size free on disk to download it.

Set it up

  1. In Commander Desktop, open Settings → Local models. It shows whether this Mac is ready and what's missing.
  2. If the engine is missing or out of date, click Install… or Upgrade…. Commander shows you the exact command (npm install -g @waymakeros/cli@2.17.1) and runs it in a new terminal so you can watch. Nothing runs until you confirm.
  3. Under your model, click Pull…. Commander shows the download size and your free disk space first, then asks. You can cancel a download; the next pull picks up where it stopped.
  4. On a 48 GB Mac, choose Model for new Local terminals if you want the coding model.

Start a Local terminal

  1. Click + in the terminal list and choose Local (offline) under the repository or My Vault you want to work in.
  2. The terminal starts waymakerone local --offline in that folder, with the strip across the top.

You can also make Local what every new terminal starts: Settings → Terminals → New terminals start → Local (offline).

Use it outside Commander

Settings → Local models → Commands lists the commands for Terminal.app or another IDE, each with a Copy button: waymakerone local (hybrid: routine tasks run on your Mac, your main model stays with your provider, lower cost but not private), waymakerone local --offline, waymakerone local --coding (shown only on a Mac that can run it) and waymakerone local stats. They need the Waymaker CLI 2.17.1 or later.

One local model at a time

Your Mac runs one local model at a time. If another program is using it (for example a fleet seat), Commander tells you which one and offers to wait. It opens your Local terminal when the model is free.

Keychain secrets are off in Local terminals

A Local terminal does not get this repository's Keychain secrets. A smaller model shouldn't reach production keys unless you decide it should.

What "secrets" means here: "Secrets here are the ones Commander keeps in your Keychain and adds to a terminal's environment: this repository's own and the shared ones given to it. Files in the repository are different: a model with file tools can still read them, a .env file included."

So keep keys you don't want a local model to see out of files in the repository, and in Commander's Secrets instead.

To give one terminal its secrets, click Allow for this terminal… on its strip ("Keychain secrets: off. Files here, such as .env, can still be read."). Commander asks, then restarts that terminal with them in its environment, where the model can read them. Other Local terminals stay without them. Turn off… removes them again.

Hybrid: lower cost under Claude Code

Hybrid is for Claude Code terminals only. Your main model stays on your own Claude sign-in, and only Claude Code's small, fast tasks run on your Mac. Grok Build, Codex and other agents have no hybrid. Use a Local (offline) terminal if you want a model that runs entirely on your Mac.

It is a switch on a terminal, not a setting you pick for new terminals: New terminals start (Settings → Terminals) and the new-terminal menu choose which agent opens, and hybrid is then switched on from that terminal's row.

On a Claude Code terminal, click the hybrid button (the chip icon) in the terminal list.

  1. Commander asks first, then restarts that terminal through the local engine.
  2. Your main model keeps running with your provider, under your usual Claude sign-in.
  3. Claude Code's routine, small tasks run on your Mac.

The row tells you the state. With hybrid on, the terminal shows a hybrid badge and the button is lit; with it off, the button is dimmed and its tooltip says "Hybrid is off".

Hybrid is off by default and set per terminal. Like Local terminals, a hybrid terminal starts without secrets unless you allow them. If another program is using the local model, the session still starts, with local offload off until it's free. Click the button again to turn hybrid off; Commander asks before it restarts the session.

If the button is greyed out

A dimmed button with a "not available" tooltip means that terminal is Claude Code, but not one Commander can start with hybrid. Click it and Commander says why, then offers to start a new Claude Code terminal with hybrid on instead. The terminal you clicked keeps running as it is, and the new one is a normal terminal (it ends when Commander quits). The two reasons:

  • A background session. If Keep Claude sessions running when Waymaker Commander quits is on for the workspace (its ... menu), new Claude terminals attach to a Claude background session, and hybrid can't change a session that is already running that way. Turn that option off for the workspace and start a new Claude Code terminal. This is the usual reason in My Vault.
  • A custom start command. Hybrid starts plain claude. A terminal started with options, or in a folder first, can't take it. Start a Claude Code terminal from the new-terminal menu.

My Vault takes hybrid like any repository: it follows the same rules, including secrets off unless you allow them.

See what you kept on your Mac

Settings → Local models → Kept on this Mac this week shows how many model requests ran on your Mac over the last 7 days, their tokens, and how many went to your provider. These are counts only, kept in a file on your Mac. Nothing is sent to Waymaker.