Logo Autocomputing
Call Support
Gridtop Beta Manual › Part VIII: Autocomputing '26 for Windows › 40. Local Compute

40Local Compute

Autocomputing '26 can do some of your agents' work on your own computer rather than on a server: running a language model, running the media tools for video, speech and pictures, and running agent harnesses. One rule governs all of it: nothing downloads, and nothing starts, until you say so.

40.1 A Model on This PC

With a model running on your computer (40.2), two things become possible. Turn on Ethocana on this PC in the gear menu, and agents set to Ethocana are answered by the model on your computer, in this app. Or set an agent's provider chip to This PC (13.7), and that agent always uses it. The thinking happens on your computer; the conversation is still saved with your Gridtop (chapter 36). Replies from your own computer cost no tokens and count against no allowance.

Agents on other providers are unaffected, and Ethocana in your browser, or on another computer, carries on as before. Work that runs on the server, such as a schedule (chapter 20), cannot reach your computer, so an agent set to This PC is answered there by Ethocana.

40.2 Models

The Models tab of the Autocomputing '26 app (38.1) is where you add and run models.

To add and start a model

  1. Under Add a model, give the model's place: a file on your computer, a web address ending .gguf, or the name of a model in Ollama (for example qwen2.5:3b).
  2. Click Add. The model joins the list; if it needs downloading, click Download. Its progress shows as megabytes of the whole; you may Pause, Resume or Cancel.
  3. Click Start. The tab shows Running, and a Try it box lets you ask the model something at once.

Stop stops a model; Remove removes it. A model downloads when Download is pressed and runs when Start is pressed, and at no other time. The This PC card beneath shows your computer's processor, graphics and free memory.

Note Models are large, often several gigabytes, and need a capable computer. A small model runs on most computers but is best at light work; the larger the model, the more memory and patience it asks.

40.3 Media Tools

The media tools, FFmpeg for video and sound, Whisper for speech into text, and the Image Generator for pictures, are installed from Gridtop's Media ▸ Tools (24.4), and run in the app. The FFmpeg download is about 90 MB, Whisper about 160 MB, and the Image Generator about 2 GB.

Each download is checked, piece by piece, against the exact file it should be, and discarded if it is not. The tools run quietly in the background, at low priority, so your computer stays responsive. Their work arrives because the app asks us for it; nothing on the internet can reach into your computer to start it. A finished job's result is placed on your drive, and its working files are cleared away.

40.4 Agent Harnesses on This PC

The This PC tab of the Autocomputing '26 app, and of the Harness app (32.3), shows what runs on your computer for Gridtop: Models, Ollama, Media work, the Tunnel, and the agent harnesses OpenClaw and Hermes. Each harness can be installed, set up, started and stopped from here, and connected to your Gridtop with Connect to my Gridtop. A harness may want more memory than your computer has; the tab says so before you start it.