Updated
Updated · InfoWorld · Jun 24
Visual Studio Code 1.122 Enables Offline Local LLM Workflows Without GitHub Sign-In
Updated
Updated · InfoWorld · Jun 24

Visual Studio Code 1.122 Enables Offline Local LLM Workflows Without GitHub Sign-In

1 articles · Updated · InfoWorld · Jun 24

Summary

  • VS Code 1.122 adds a BYOK option that lets developers use chat, tools and MCP servers without GitHub sign-in, opening air-gapped and fully offline workflows with locally hosted models.
  • Local models must be served through a custom endpoint—such as LM Studio—and then added through Manage Language Models with an endpoint URL, model name and optional API key.
  • 8GB VRAM-class options including Gemma4, Qwen3.5 9B and Codestral 22B are cited as workable coding models, though performance depends on fitting both the model and context window into available memory.
  • The new support still stops short of inline suggestions and next-edit completions, leaving developers to use third-party tools like Continue for deeper local-model integration.

Insights

Is VS Code's support for local AI a sign that big tech's dominance over developer tools is finally starting to crack?
VS Code now lets developers 'bring their own AI.' What new security vulnerabilities does this create for enterprise environments?
As cloud AI costs soar, is running a local code model on your own hardware a cost-effective alternative for developers?