You have a coding agent you know how to use and a computer that might be able to run its model. The awkward part is choosing a model that fits, getting it served correctly and finding out whether it can finish useful work before you lose patience.

Magnitude handles hardware assessment, model downloads and the local inference server. It also connects that server to supported coding agents. Its model recommendations account for the model, quantization and context size together. That makes a better starting point than choosing a download by its parameter count alone.

This intermediate tutorial takes you through a deliberate first setup: inspect the recommendations, load one model, check an answer directly, then connect an agent and give it a small programming task with a verifiable result. You need terminal familiarity, Node.js and npm, Python 3, and a supported computer. Use macOS or Linux; on Windows, work inside Windows Subsystem for Linux, or WSL. The agent-connection example assumes you already have OpenCode installed.

Free membership opens the complete walkthrough, including the diagnostic commands and a coding exercise you can repeat with another model.

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Editor-in-Chief and founder of Implicator.ai. Former ARD correspondent and senior broadcast journalist with 10+ years covering tech. Writes daily briefings on policy and market developments. Based in San Francisco. E-mail: editor@implicator.ai