Small models, prompt caching accelerate local development

Developing against small local models (1B-9B) is a superior workflow for prompt engineering and latency control, rather than just a hardware workaround. These models provide near-instant feedback loops that force developers to write more constrained and effective prompts. Prompt caching stands as the highest-leverage optimization, slashing latency by storing static system prefixes and making top-loaded static content a critical architectural requirement. This local-first approach acts as a forcing function for efficiency, translating to 50-90% cost savings when migrating to paid APIs as developers move toward routing simple tasks to small models.