open models
Run more agents without paying frontier rates for every token. Set up your open models once, then let crystl route each job by capability, cost, privacy, and available hardware.
Keep the expensive thinking where it belongs. Use a frontier model for architecture, difficult debugging, and the decisions that need your strongest agent. Put lint fixes, test runs, migrations, documentation passes, and other token-heavy work on an open model running on your hardware or through a managed host such as z.ai.
Set it up once. Connect Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, llama.cpp, or a compatible hosted service in Settings → agents → providers & keys. crystl checks whether the model is reachable, keeps any per-connection key in your Keychain, and supplies the right flags and environment variables when a new shard starts.
Orchestrate the whole mix. A lead agent can keep the hard problem on a frontier model while sending bounded work to open-model workers. Every worker remains a normal crystl shard, so you can watch it, steer it, and bring its result back into the larger job.
Open models, also called open-weight models, give you control over where and how they run. They are not automatically private or equally capable. A model and agent both running on your hardware can keep the work local. A managed host still receives your code, and a local worker managed by a hosted lead is not an air gap. Match the task to the model and the savings become useful instead of merely cheap.
Why it matters
Set up once
Connect a local runtime or hosted open-model service once. crystl handles discovery, credentials, agent-specific flags, and each new shard's environment.
Orchestrate every model
Mix frontier and open-model workers in one job. Route each task by difficulty, cost, privacy, and the hardware you have available.
Cut token costs
Move repetitive, high-volume work off metered frontier APIs. Pay premium token rates only for the judgment that needs them.
Know what is ready
See whether each connection is reachable and which Ollama models are warm. A missing or unavailable model fails before a worker opens.
Three steps from model to worker
Start the model, give the connection a name, then choose it when you open a shard. crystl handles the agent-specific plumbing. The optional key stays in your Keychain, and anything you export yourself still wins.
Settings → agents → providers & keys → open models
label closet-box
kind Ollama
base URL http://100.x.y.z:11434 ← as seen from your Mac
as seen from remote http://localhost:11434 ← for agents running on the box
key (none)
env vars OLLAMA_API_BASE, OLLAMA_HOST
enabled yes
label z-ai
kind anthropic-compatible
base URL https://api.z.ai/api/anthropic
key •••••••••••• ← Keychain, never your Anthropic key
env vars ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN
enabled yes
New shards pick this up at launch. A shard that was already running keeps the old values until you restart it. See the open models setup guide for the full walkthrough.
Orchestrate by model size
Different agents spell model ids differently. Instead of looking each one up, let crystl read what the connection serves and propose a small, standard, and large model. Review the mapping once, then heroes, quests, and orchestrators can choose by size.
$ crystl agent profile suggest --agent codex --slot closet-box
closet-box serves 6 models. proposed profile for codex:
small gpt-oss:20b
standard qwen3-coder:30b
large qwen3-coder:480b
write this profile? [y/N]
aider ollama_chat/qwen3-coder # ollama_chat beats ollama here
opencode ollama/qwen3-coder
That one map turns model choice into an orchestration control. Run lower-cost workers at small or standard, reserve large for harder work, and change the actual model later without rewriting every hero or workflow.
Where open models pay off
High-volume mechanical work
Send lint fixes, test loops, migrations, documentation passes, and other bounded tasks to an open model. Keep the frontier model focused on decisions that justify its token price.
A mixed-model agent team
Let a strong lead agent plan the work, then hand well-scoped pieces to self-hosted or managed open models. crystl keeps every worker visible and gives each result a clear path back.
Your own hardware
Run the agent and model on a Mac, workstation, or GPU box you control. A remote-vantage URL keeps the same model available from your desk and an SSH session on the machine.
Hosted open models
No GPU required. A managed host such as z.ai runs the model for you, through the same shards, model sizes, and orchestration controls.
Setup tutorials
Each one goes from nothing installed to a working shard on that server.
Ready to try it?
Create a free account and download crystl for macOS.
get started getting started guide →Frequently asked questions
Crystl's Book of Spells
Master crystl with a grimoire of powerful prompts. Summon heroes, assemble a party, revive shards, and complete epic quests.
open the book →More features
Gems & Shards
Gems, shards, and the crystal rail keep every project one click away.
Action Panels
See what every agent is doing at a glance.
Agent Activity Panel
One live view of every agent across all your gems: who's working, who's idle, and where tokens are going.
Schedule Agents
Launch a fresh agent at a set time (once, daily, or weekdays). Pick the gem, agent, model, and prompt; crystl fires it on schedule.
Parallel Sessions
Run multiple Claude instances on the same repo in separate git worktrees.
Hero Shards
Summon a single hero as a shard (its own agent, model, and persona) without a quest party.
History Navigator
Browse, jump through, and search every session: conversation and tool calls.
Token Tracking
Track token burn per shard, estimate turns left, and reclaim context window by disabling heavy plugins and skills.
Workbench
A slide-out task list in every project, backed by a WORKBENCH.md the agent reads and writes with you.
Markdown Editor
Render and edit any .md in a side panel. Toggle it from the workbench, and let agents open docs for you from the CLI.
Prompt Integration
Facet Inserts give you one-click access to saved prompts, commands, and shortcuts.
Agent File Editor
Create, edit, and manage CLAUDE.md, rules, skills, and agent config files with a block editor, file chooser, and project optimizer.
Project Optimizer
Scan your project for gaps in agent configuration (missing files, incomplete docs, oversized code, and setup issues) with one-click fixes.
Skills Library
Browse and import agentic skills that teach agents like Claude Code or Codex new tricks: code review, testing, deployment, and more.
Cavrn
The terminal as structured data: every turn, tool call, result, and table captured as agent-readable metadata. Drawn fast on the GPU with Metal.
Remote Development
Full crystl integration over SSH: approval panels, file relay, and click-to-open on remote machines.
Agent Orchestration
One agent spawns, supervises, and merges the work of many: a control room for a team of coding agents.
crystl quest
Assemble a party of specialized agents. Each brings unique skills, coordinates in shared chat, and executes in parallel.
Screenshot Bar
Drag recent screenshots into the terminal. Spotlight-powered, always up to date.
Copy Bar
A one-click copy bar under the terminal. Agents stage text, you click Copy. Editable, up to 10 tabs, free.