REDDIT · REDDIT// 29d agoTUTORIAL

OpenCode, Qwen3.5 build Python app on M4 Mini

A developer used OpenCode, an open-source terminal AI coding agent, paired with Qwen3.5-9B-4bit running locally via MLX LM Server on a Mac Mini M4 24GB to autonomously plan, build, and test a Python CLI app in 16 minutes. The result held up favorably against cloud-based tools like Amazon Q.

// ANALYSIS

Local AI coding agents are closing the gap with cloud tools faster than most expected — a $600 Mac Mini M4 is now a credible autonomous coding machine.

–OpenCode's model-agnostic TUI worked seamlessly with a local Qwen3.5-9B-4bit model via MLX LM Server, no cloud dependency required
–16 minutes end-to-end for plan-build-test is slower than GPT-4o-backed tools but competitive for a fully offline, privacy-preserving setup
–Qwen3.5-9B at 4-bit quantization fits comfortably in 24GB unified memory, making M4 Mac Mini a practical local dev workstation
–The comparison to Amazon Q suggests local open-weights models are viable replacements for enterprise coding assistants in routine tasks

// TAGS

opencodeai-codingagentcliopen-sourceself-hostedllm

DISCOVERED

29d ago

2026-03-14

PUBLISHED

29d ago

2026-03-14

RELEVANCE

6/ 10

AUTHOR

planemsg