Topic
Local LLM
106 posts on local llm, guides and lab notes from real runs on hardware we own. New posts land here automatically. Start anywhere, or grab the copy-paste prompts that ship with them.
- 5 min read
Ollama num_batch: 256 Was My RTX 5090 Sweet Spot
I tested four Ollama settings on Gemma 4 26B. num_batch 256 delivered nearly all the speed of 512 while using less power on my RTX 5090.
- 5 min read
A 7 GB 27B Model Lost to My 17 GB Default
A 6.66 GiB ternary 27B model fit my RTX 5090, but it lost the default slot. File size is only the first local model-selection gate.
- 6 min read
My Agents Have to Prove What They Did
I extracted the claims ledger that runs my agent operation into showwork. Falsifiable claims, deterministic checks, and an exit gate that refuses a false done.
- 5 min read
Ollama Raised $65M. What Builders Get
Ollama's $65M round and 8.9 million developers make local AI a funded product category. Here is what changes for builders on owned GPUs.
- 5 min read
Why production AI is moving to open weights
I tested a local-first writing pipeline on an RTX 5090. Gemma 4 writes the draft, deterministic checks catch errors, and frontier QA decides what ships.
- 5 min read
Q4_K_M vs Q5_K_M (q4km vs q5km): Which to Download? (2026)
Stuck between q4km and q5km? Verdict: start with Q4_K_M on 8–24GB cards; move to Q5_K_M only if it still fits with KV-cache headroom. The 5-minute VRAM check inside.
- 6 min read
My 8B Model Failed a 400-Word Task
Three Llama 3.1 8B runs missed a 400-word floor. Here is the verifier-driven route that moved long-form synthesis to Gemma 4 26B.
- 5 min read
I Raised the QA Bar on Blog Infographics
Blog charts need correct labels. I tightened layout geometry, char budgets, claims checks, and vision logs so a bad PNG cannot ship quietly.
- 6 min read
I Rebuilt 5,383 Embeddings After a Dimension Change
I moved a vault search index from 1,536 to 768 dimensions. Here is why I rebuilt all 5,383 chunks instead of mixing vector spaces.
- 6 min read
Preview Retrieval Before Your Local LLM Runs
Preview the files your local LLM will receive before inference. This simple gate catches bad retrieval while the fix is still cheap and clear.
- 6 min read
Pin Your Context Window or Pay the Reload Tax
Change num_ctx in Ollama and it reloads the whole model. On my RTX 5090 that meant 140 seconds of dead air per context swap. Here is how to stop paying it.
- 6 min read
Pin Your Local LLM Context Size Before You Build a Router
Changing context size can reload a local model before every request. A measured RTX 5090 sweep shows why context belongs in the routing key.
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