How to Run Local LLMs for Coding (No Cloud, No API Keys)

I got tired of paying for API calls. Every time I wanted an AI coding assistant, it was another subscription, another API key, another company reading my code. So I went local. Here's exactly how to do it. Why Local LLMs for Coding? Three reasons: Privacy - Your code never leaves your machine Cost - Zero ongoing fees after initial setup Speed - No network latency, works offline The tradeoff? You need decent hardware. But if you've got 16GB+ RAM and a GPU from the last few years, you're set. The Stack: Ollama + Continue Forget complicated setups. Ollama makes running local models trivially easy, and Continue gives you a VS Code/Cursor-style experience without the cloud dependency. Step 1: Install Ollama # macOS/Linux curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh # Windows - download from ollama.com That's it. No Docker, no Python environments, no dependency hell. Step 2: Pull a Coding Model Not all models are equal for code. Here's what actually works: # Best overall for coding (needs 1