Claude Code is great but pricey; local models are free but not smart enough. Most developers bounce between these extremes. The sweet spot is hybrid: let local models handle 80% of daily work and save the hardest 20% for the cloud. This article shows three concrete setups.

💡 What You Will Learn

Claude Code is great but pricey; local models are free but not smart enough. Most developers bounce between these extremes. The sweet spot is hybrid: let local models handle 80% of daily work and save

📜 Table of Contents

• Why hybrid
• Setup 1: VS Code dual model (Continue)
• Setup 2: CLI dual window
• Setup 3: Cline multi-provider
• Routing guide
• FAQ

Claude Code + Local Models: When to Use Cloud vs Local

Claude Code is great but pricey. Local models are free but not smart enough. The sweet spot is hybrid: local models handle 80% of daily work, cloud handles the hardest 20%.

Why hybrid

Cloud: smooth autocomplete but costs money, needs network, code uploads. Local: free, offline, private, but weak at complex refactoring. Core rule: sensitive/simple tasks go local; complex/urgent tasks go cloud.

Setup 1: VS Code dual model (Continue)

Configure both Ollama (qwen2.5-coder 7B for autocomplete, 14B for chat) and Anthropic (claude-sonnet) in ~/.continue/config.json. Autocomplete runs locally for free; switch with @qwen / @sonnet in chat for hard tasks.

Setup 2: CLI dual window

Claude Code CLI doesn't support multi-model switching; use two terminals or a wrapper script: ai local <prompt> runs ollama, ai cloud <prompt> runs claude.

Setup 3: Cline multi-provider

Map planning -> cloud Sonnet, execution -> local 14B, quick -> local 7B in Cline settings.

Routing guide

Local (saves money): autocomplete (7B), simple debug, unit tests, formatting/renaming, code explanation (14B). Cloud (worth paying): architecture design, cross-file refactoring, security review, large code generation, performance optimization (Sonnet). Decision tree: one line of code -> local 7B; one function -> local 14B; debug -> local first; refactor module -> cloud; architecture -> cloud flagship; sensitive code -> always local.

FAQ

Q: Is local 14B slow? A: Usable on 16GB machines; use 7B for autocomplete. Depends on hardware. Q: Model names change? A: Yes, check the Ollama library and Anthropic model list before configuring. Q: Can local fully replace cloud? A: No. Hybrid is the most cost-effective setup today.