What runs where, and who may start it
The question is no longer “ChatGPT, yes or no”. The question is what runs where and who may start it. Local and in-house AI is growing alongside the cloud: a Mac mini handles inference, open weights keep closing the gap, and agents are the product of the year and the risk of the year. This series takes you from your first local model to a control room you run the whole thing from — and to the rules without which it all falls apart.
45 parts · six tracks · more coming
Read it front to back like a course, or jump around by tag. If in doubt, start with the first part of each track — they assume you have installed nothing yet.
Prefer a fixed order to a signpost? Follow the path An agent on your NAS from scratch (13 steps).
01 · 5×
Model, harness, agent — and why the question moved from “AI yes or no” to “what runs where”.
02 · 5×
Two complete setups from hardware to invoice: what runs where, what it costs and why it is put together this way.
03 · 5×
Your first model on your own machine: Mac mini, Windows with an Nvidia card, memory, and when local is enough.
04 · 6×
One gateway in front of every model, API keys in one place, and routing each job to what handles it best.
05 · 8×
A control room in your pocket: Telegram as the panel, a safe route home, and a queue you approve yourself.
06 · 8×
Files from your disk into the chat: how it really works, what RAG is, what MCP does, what stays off the cloud.
07 · 8×
Agents are the product of the year and the risk of the year. One page of rules and the case studies behind them.
Tags
5 parts tagged “API keys” · Clear filter
Five models, five apps, five keys, and nobody knows what it costs. A gateway is a single endpoint with everything hidden behind it — the local model at home and the most expensive one in the cloud. And swapping one out takes a single line.
A key is a password nobody changes, because nobody remembers it exists. Where to store it on a Mac, on Windows and on a server, why it does not belong in a chat or in a file in the project, and how to tell that it has got away from you.
One account, one key, one invoice — and access to models from dozens of providers. What it really costs, how to set a spending cap, when it suits as your main route and when only as a safety net for an agent.
An agent doesn't have one price. It has four components, three of which are predictable while the fourth can spring a surprise. How to measure them, a table to fill in, where the money most often goes missing, and five levers for cutting the bill without losing the benefit.
In March 2026 a modified version with a credential harvester made its way into the package of a popular AI gateway for forty minutes. Forty minutes was enough. What happened, why it's a warning for anyone building their own control room, and what to do about it.
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