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Locus needs a remote AI service as its reasoning engine, and the model’s quality directly determines how well Locus works. The Models group in Settings has two tabs: Models connects providers, and Default Models assigns models per scenario. img

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Subscription accounts

  • Claude Subscription: click Sign In, log in to your Claude account in the browser, then copy the authorization code shown after approval and paste it back into Locus. If Claude Code is installed, Import from Claude Code reuses its login. Once signed in, Remaining quota shows the 5-hour limit and weekly windows.
  • ChatGPT Subscription (Device Auth): click Sign in with ChatGPT, visit the link in your browser, and enter the code to authorize. Compatible with ChatGPT Pro / Plus plans. Import from Codex CLI is also available. After sign-in, quota shows the Short window and Long window remaining.
  • Claude Code CLI: Locus only calls the system claude command; Claude Code manages its own login state. If the CLI is detected but not logged in, run claude in a terminal and complete /login. Test connection sends a one-word probe through the CLI to verify the endpoint, credentials, and proxy a real run would use. Models from this source stay out of the model list until you turn on Enable Claude Code CLI models (experimental) in the Default Models tab.
  • OpenRouter: paste an API key. A unified gateway for Claude, GPT, Gemini, and more.

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Custom model endpoints

Custom Model Endpoints connects any compatible API service, including locally hosted models. Three message formats are supported:
  • Anthropic Messages: Claude-family APIs and compatible services.
  • OpenAI Chat Completions: the most widely compatible format; most third-party and local inference services speak it.
  • OpenAI Responses: OpenAI’s newer interface format.
Click Add Custom Endpoint and fill in:
  1. Display Name: the name shown in the model list.
  2. API Model ID: the model field value sent to the API, such as gpt-4o.
  3. Endpoint URL: the base URL including /v1; paths like /chat/completions are appended automatically.
  4. API Format and API Key (optional; some local models require none).
Advanced options include Context Window (compaction triggers past this token count), Reasoning Effort (adds effort levels to the model selector), and Image understanding (enable when the endpoint accepts screenshots and image attachments). After saving, Test verifies connectivity. Multiple endpoints can coexist; Edit or Delete them at any time.

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Default models

The Default Models tab assigns models per scenario; unset slots follow your current manual selection:
  • Main Chat Model: the default for the main chat session.
  • Plan Mode Model: applied automatically when switching to plan mode, so plan design can use a stronger reasoning model. See Plan mode.
  • Sub-agent Models: per-subagent overrides used when the Agent dispatches sub-tasks; unset sub-agents inherit the session model. Sub-tasks are usually more mechanical, and a faster model there cuts cost noticeably.

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Privacy boundary

Apart from calls to the model services you configure, Locus is a pure client application and uploads nothing else to the internet. Sessions, knowledge, and configuration all stay on your machine; the storage location is described under Local Data Storage in General settings.