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LocoLabo LocoLabo
A glowing brass lantern

Welcome to the valley

LocoLabo is a self-funded lab mapping what AI can do on hardware people already own. Secondhand GPUs, small models, serious questions. Pick a place on the map, or let the Wayfinder choose you a quest.
Explore the map Start a quest Just the docs

The valley

Every project is a place. Hover or tap a marker, then step inside.

A moonlit pixel-art valley with forests, a river, and a lake LocoLabo The lab cottage Start here: who we are, what we run, and why. LocoLLM The alchemist tower Task-specific adapters and a router for small local models. Capstone The guild hall Student teams building domain-specialist adapters for LocoLLM. LocoEnsayo The theatre AI-powered education simulations and design research. LocoBanco The test bench Which model is best for your VRAM tier, measured on real cards. LocoBanco Picker The market stall Plot GPUs by cost, VRAM, bandwidth, power, and benchmark. LocoFósil The fossil dig Second-life GPUs, measured in capability, watts, and dollars. LocoMusa The observatory Thinking-partner quality for local models, judged pairwise. LocoConvoy The mountain road Multi-GPU inference on consumer PCIe hardware. LocoAgente The robot workshop Can small models think in loops? Agent scaffolding research. LocoPuente The bridge A local-first AI platform on your own hardware. LocoBase Base camp The Ubuntu setup kit that provisions every lab machine. LocoNotas The library Field notes from the floor: experiments, reading, and failures.

Not sure where to start?

What brings you to the valley?

Why this lab exists

Section titled “Why this lab exists”

Mapping the floor

Most AI research documents the ceiling. We document the floor: what small local models can do on modest hardware, because that is where most people live.

Local and private by design

Local inference keeps student work, research data, and private conversations on a machine you control. No token tax, no data leaving the room.

Conversation, not delegation

A small model that keeps you thinking beats a big one that thinks for you. Read the Loco thesis for the principles behind every project.

Open to explorers

Everything is public: code, data, and failures. Try a quest, or contribute a measured result to the GPU registry and LocoBanco.