Corporate Laptop

Everything on one machine: VS Code + Cline Local + LM Studio. Minimal to set up and privacy-friendly.

Who this is for: Standard corporate laptops or desktops, possibly with limited GPU. If you have a strong GPU workstation or server, see Remote GPU Server.

Topology

All components run locally.

laptop:~ — local

Recommended Models

Qwen2.5‑Coder 32B (or Qwen Coder 30B A3A) — best balance of quality for coding.
GPT‑OSS‑120B — top-tier quality, but generally too heavy for laptops.

On constrained hardware, consider Qwen 32B 4‑bit quantized as a low-resource fallback. Expect quality/latency trade‑offs. See Quick Tips.

Step‑by‑Step

Install Cline Local (VSIX)
Download the latest release VSIX from Releases.
In VS Code: Extensions → ••• → Install from VSIX… → pick the file → Reload.
Install LM Studio
Download from https://lmstudio.ai and install. Launch LM Studio.
Download a model
In LM Studio, search for Qwen2.5‑Coder‑32B‑Instruct (or Qwen Coder 30B A3A). Download the variant your hardware supports.
If VRAM is limited, try a 4‑bit quantized build. Quality may drop vs full precision.
Start the LM Studio API server
- Open the Server tab in LM Studio
- Host: 127.0.0.1 Port: 1234
- Enable CORS and keep‑alive
- Start server; ensure the model is loaded
Test locally:
```
curl http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1/models
```
Configure Cline Local
In Cline Local settings (within VS Code):
- Provider: LM Studio
- Endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:1234
- Model: the exact name LM Studio shows (e.g., qwen2.5-coder-32b-instruct)
Run a quick test
Start a small coding task and confirm tokens stream. If not, see troubleshooting below.

Troubleshooting

404 / 503: Ensure the LM Studio server is running and the model is loaded.
CORS errors: Enable CORS in LM Studio server settings.
Connection refused: Confirm host is 127.0.0.1 and port matches. Check local firewall rules.
Slow tokens / stalling: Try a lighter quantization, reduce context length, close heavy apps, or switch to the Remote GPU Server setup.

Looking for model selection tips? See Quick Tips.