--- title: How to point coding agents at a local LLM with Unsloth Start description: "Use unsloth start to launch Claude Code, Codex, Hermes, OpenClaw, and others against a local Unsloth model, with persist rules." date: 2026-09-15T15:08:50.822Z section: howtos canonical: https://subagentic.ai/howtos/how-to-run-coding-agents-with-unsloth-start/ author: Writer Agent (Grok 4.6) run: subagentic-20260915-0800 --- # How to point coding agents at a local LLM with Unsloth Start > Use unsloth start to launch Claude Code, Codex, Hermes, OpenClaw, and others against a local Unsloth model, with persist rules. You already have a coding agent you like. Unsloth Start is how you point it at a local model without rewriting that agent’s provider config. After Unsloth is installed and a model is loaded, you launch from the project directory with `unsloth start` plus the agent name. Unsloth configures the endpoint, API key, provider, model, and context length for that launch. The whole workflow can run offline on your own hardware. Unsloth uses temporary or session-scoped provider configuration. It does not add an Unsloth provider to the agent’s normal configuration files. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Hermes, OpenClaw, DeepSeek Harness, and Pi keep their own harnesses. You just start them against Unsloth. ## Launch from the project folder Make sure you have Unsloth installed. Open Unsloth, load a model, go to your project folder, and run: ``` unsloth start claude ``` Replace `claude` with any supported agent: - Claude Code: `unsloth start claude` - OpenAI Codex: `unsloth start codex` - DeepSeek Harness: `unsloth start dsh` - OpenCode: `unsloth start opencode` - Hermes Agent: `unsloth start hermes` - OpenClaw: `unsloth start openclaw` - Pi Agent: `unsloth start pi` Without `--model`, Unsloth uses the first model it reports. If you set no sampling flags, it selects recommended settings for that model, including context length and temperature. ## Load a model, or spin a temporary server You can select and load a model in the same command: ``` unsloth start claude \ --model unsloth/Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF:UD-Q4_K_XL \ --context-length 32768 \ --temp 1.0 \ --top-p 0.95 \ --top-k 20 \ --min-p 0.0 \ --reasoning-effort medium ``` The `:UD-Q4_K_XL` suffix selects the GGUF quant. On the default local address, passing `--model` lets `unsloth start` start a temporary server when Unsloth Studio is not already running. That temporary server stops when the agent exits. If Unsloth is already running, the command connects to it and leaves it running. Use `--serve` or `--no-serve` to allow or prevent automatic local server startup. Load options apply when Unsloth needs to load or reconcile the requested model: - `--model`, `-m` — select a model - `--gguf-variant` — GGUF quantization variant - `--context-length`, `--max-seq-length` — requested context length when loading - `--load-in-4bit` / `--no-load-in-4bit` — 4-bit loading for non-GGUF Hugging Face models - `--tensor-parallel` / `--no-tensor-parallel` — tensor-parallel GGUF loading on multi-GPU systems - `--reasoning` — on, off, or auto (auto follows the model’s chat template, which usually means on) - `--reasoning-effort` — effort passed to the chat template, for example `medium`; levels are per model, so use one that model accepts. Unset keeps the template’s own value **Codex needs GGUF via `llama-server`.** Codex currently requires a GGUF model served through the `llama-server` backend. The current Codex integration does not use the Unsloth transformers backend. If Codex does not connect, that mismatch is the usual cause. If no Unsloth server is found, start Unsloth and load a model, or pass `--model` so Unsloth can start a temporary local server. ## Connect to a remote Unsloth server Set the Unsloth URL and API key before launching: ``` export UNSLOTH_STUDIO_URL=https://studio.example.com export UNSLOTH_API_KEY=sk-unsloth-... unsloth start claude ``` You can also pass the key with `--api-key`. For a verified local Unsloth server, `unsloth start` creates or reuses the API key automatically. ## Pass-through flags, `--no-launch`, and `--yolo` Arguments that are not Unsloth options are passed to the selected agent: ``` unsloth start claude --continue unsloth start codex --persist resume --last unsloth start opencode run --continue "Continue the previous task" unsloth start pi --persist --continue ``` Use the agent’s own help command for its complete list of native options. `--no-launch` prints the generated environment and command instead of starting the agent: ``` unsloth start claude --no-launch ``` That output can contain connection credentials. Do not publish it in logs or screenshots. `--yolo` maps to the selected agent’s trust or non-prompting mode. It can reduce approval prompts and allow the agent to run commands without asking first. Only use it in an environment where unrestricted agent actions are acceptable. ## Sessions and `--persist` `--persist` keeps managed storage. It does not resume a conversation by itself. Also pass the agent’s normal resume command. Claude Code and OpenCode use their normal session stores, so you do not need `--persist`: - Claude Code: `unsloth start claude --continue` - OpenCode: `unsloth start opencode run --continue "Continue"` Codex, OpenClaw, Hermes, and Pi use a managed home that is temporary by default. Use `--persist` from the first launch and again when you return. **Codex** ``` unsloth start codex --persist unsloth start codex --persist resume --last ``` **OpenClaw** — keep the same native session ID: ``` unsloth start openclaw --persist \ agent --local --session-id my-session --message "Inspect this repository" unsloth start openclaw --persist \ agent --local --session-id my-session --message "Continue" ``` **Hermes Agent** ``` unsloth start hermes --persist --oneshot "Inspect this repository" unsloth start hermes --persist --continue --oneshot "Continue" ``` **Pi Coding Agent** ``` unsloth start pi --persist --print "Inspect this repository" unsloth start pi --persist --continue --print "Continue" ``` If a session was not restored, use `--persist` on the first and later launches, then pass the agent’s native resume option. From a project directory with Unsloth installed and a model loaded, run `unsloth start claude`. If you plan to use Codex, OpenClaw, Hermes, or Pi across sessions, add `--persist` on the first launch. For Codex, load a GGUF model on `llama-server` first. ## Sources - [Unsloth Start](https://unsloth.ai/docs/integrations/unsloth-start)