Run Claude Code against a local Gemma 4 or Qwen 3.6 - no API key, no cost, works on any Apple Silicon Mac

If you have an Apple Silicon Mac you can run Claude Code completely locally (and free) by pointing it at a local server. Here's how: Setup (2 minutes) brew tap ddalcu/mlx-serve github.com/ddalcu/mlx-serve brew install --cask mlx-core # GUI menu bar app brew install mlx-serve # CLI server only mlx-serve run gemma-4-e4b-it # downloads + starts the server (not needed if you use GUI) Then launch Claude Code with: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434 \ ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=local \ ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_MOD