LM Studio Subagents

Overview

Offload LLM tasks to local models running in LM Studio to save API costs and maintain privacy. LM Studio provides an OpenAI-compatible API for local models, making it a drop-in replacement for cloud LLM calls. Use local models for high-volume, lower-complexity tasks like summarization, extraction, classification, and reformatting while reserving cloud APIs for complex reasoning.

Instructions

When a user wants to use local models via LM Studio, determine the task:

Task A: Set up LM Studio as a local API server

1. Download and install LM Studio from https://lmstudio.ai/

2. Download a model through the LM Studio UI (recommended starting models):

   • lmstudio-community/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct-GGUF (general purpose)
   • lmstudio-community/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3-GGUF (fast inference)
   • lmstudio-community/Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct-GGUF (multilingual)

3. Start the local server:

   • Open LM Studio, go to the "Developer" tab
   • Load a model and click "Start Server"
   • Server runs at http://localhost:1234 by default

4. Verify the server is running:

curl http://localhost:1234/v1/models

Task B: Call LM Studio from Python (OpenAI-compatible)

from openai import OpenAI

# Point to local LM Studio server
client = OpenAI(
    base_url="http://localhost:1234/v1",
    api_key="lm-studio",  # Any string works
)

def ask_local(prompt: str, system: str = "You are a helpful assistant.") -> str:
    response = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="loaded-model",  # LM Studio ignores this, uses loaded model
        messages=[
            {"role": "system", "content": system},
            {"role": "user", "content": prompt},
        ],
        temperature=0.3,
        max_tokens=1024,
    )
    return response.choices[0].message.content

# Example usage
result = ask_local("Summarize this text in 2 sentences: ...")
print(result)

Task C: Create task-specific subagents

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(base_url="http://localhost:1234/v1", api_key="lm-studio")

class LocalSubagent:
    def __init__(self, system_prompt: str, temperature: float = 0.2):
        self.system_prompt = system_prompt
        self.temperature = temperature

    def run(self, user_input: str) -> str:
        response = client.chat.completions.create(
            model="loaded-model",
            messages=[
                {"role": "system", "content": self.system_prompt},
                {"role": "user", "content": user_input},
            ],
            temperature=self.temperature,
            max_tokens=2048,
        )
        return response.choices[0].message.content

# Define specialized subagents
summarizer = LocalSubagent(
    system_prompt="You are a summarization expert. Produce concise 2-3 sentence summaries."
)

classifier = LocalSubagent(
    system_prompt="Classify the input into one of these categories: billing, technical, general, urgent. Respond with only the category name.",
    temperature=0.0,
)

extractor = LocalSubagent(
    system_prompt="Extract all named entities (people, organizations, dates, amounts) from the text. Return as JSON.",
    temperature=0.0,
)

# Use the subagents
summary = summarizer.run("Long document text here...")
category = classifier.run("I can't log into my account and I need to submit a report by EOD")
entities = extractor.run("John Smith signed a $50,000 contract with Acme Corp on March 15, 2025")

Task D: Batch processing with local models

import asyncio
from openai import AsyncOpenAI

client = AsyncOpenAI(base_url="http://localhost:1234/v1", api_key="lm-studio")

async def process_batch(items: list[str], system_prompt: str, max_concurrent: int = 4) -> list[str]:
    semaphore = asyncio.Semaphore(max_concurrent)

    async def process_one(text: str) -> str:
        async with semaphore:
            response = await client.chat.completions.create(
                model="loaded-model",
                messages=[
                    {"role": "system", "content": system_prompt},
                    {"role": "user", "content": text},
                ],
                temperature=0.2,
                max_tokens=512,
            )
            return response.choices[0].message.content

    tasks = [process_one(item) for item in items]
    return await asyncio.gather(*tasks)

# Batch summarize 100 documents
documents = ["doc1 text...", "doc2 text...", ...]  # 100 documents
summaries = asyncio.run(process_batch(
    documents,
    system_prompt="Summarize in 2 sentences.",
    max_concurrent=2,  # LM Studio handles one request at a time by default
))

Task E: Cost comparison and routing strategy

Decide when to use local vs. cloud models:

Task	Local Model	Cloud API	Recommendation
Summarization	Good	Better	Local (save cost)
Classification	Good	Good	Local (save cost)
Data extraction	Moderate	Good	Local for simple, cloud for complex
Code generation	Moderate	Better	Cloud
Complex reasoning	Weak	Strong	Cloud
Translation	Good	Better	Local for common languages

def smart_route(task_type: str, text: str) -> str:
    """Route tasks between local and cloud models."""
    local_tasks = {"summarize", "classify", "extract_simple", "reformat"}

    if task_type in local_tasks:
        return ask_local(text)  # Free, local inference
    else:
        return ask_cloud(text)  # Paid, cloud API

Examples

Example 1: Summarize 500 support tickets locally

User request: "Summarize all our support tickets from last month without API costs"

tickets = load_tickets_from_csv("tickets.csv")
summaries = asyncio.run(process_batch(
    [t["description"] for t in tickets],
    system_prompt="Summarize this support ticket in one sentence. Include the main issue and any resolution.",
    max_concurrent=2,
))
# Cost: $0 (vs ~$15 with GPT-4)

Example 2: Classify incoming emails

User request: "Auto-classify emails into categories using a local model"

classifier = LocalSubagent(
    system_prompt="Classify this email into exactly one category: sales, support, spam, internal. Reply with only the category.",
    temperature=0.0,
)
for email in emails:
    category = classifier.run(email["subject"] + "\n" + email["body"])
    email["category"] = category.strip().lower()

Example 3: Extract structured data from documents

User request: "Extract names, dates, and amounts from these contracts"

extractor = LocalSubagent(
    system_prompt='Extract fields from the contract as JSON: {"parties": [], "date": "", "amount": "", "term": ""}',
    temperature=0.0,
)
for doc in contracts:
    data = extractor.run(doc["text"])
    print(f"{doc['filename']}: {data}")

Guidelines

• LM Studio processes one request at a time by default. Set max_concurrent=1-2 for batch jobs.
• Use quantized models (Q4_K_M or Q5_K_M) for best speed-to-quality ratio on consumer hardware.
• 8B parameter models are the sweet spot for most extraction and classification tasks.
• Set temperature=0.0 for deterministic tasks like classification and extraction.
• Test local model accuracy on a sample of 20-50 items before running full batches.
• For tasks where local models underperform, fall back to cloud APIs automatically.
• Keep LM Studio running as a background service for always-on local inference.
• Monitor RAM and VRAM usage; 7B models need ~6 GB RAM (quantized) or ~16 GB (full precision).