FAQ
Is my data sent to the cloud?
No. The agent loop, the model, and your data run on your own machine by default. Cloud providers are used only if you deliberately configure them.
What does it cost to run?
There’s no token bill. You bring your own llama-server (or let the CLI manage one), so the work runs where you do — the meter stops at zero.
What platforms are supported?
Atomic Agent is in Developer Preview, and runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows today.
What model does it use?
Any model your local llama-server serves. The published GAIA Level 1 benchmark was run on the same model and hardware as Hermes for a fair head-to-head comparison.
How does it compare to Hermes?
On GAIA Level 1 (53 tasks, same hardware and same model), Atomic Agent scored 69.8% versus Hermes’ 58.5% — +11.3 percentage points more accurate and about 1.6× faster per task.
Is it really open source?
Yes — released under the MIT license. Open weights, open source, open traces: software you can understand all the way down. The code lives on GitHub.
Can I extend it?
What hardware do I need?
The binary itself is tiny (~8–9 MB); the model is what needs resources. The default qwen-3.5-4b needs a few GB of disk and enough memory to load. GPU acceleration is used automatically when available — via Vulkan in managed mode, which covers NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. On macOS the runtime budgets 75% of unified memory; on Linux and Windows it reads your GPU’s VRAM. If a model reports as not fitting, pick a smaller one.
Which model should I use?
qwen-3.5-4b is the default and a good starting point — small, fast, and light on VRAM, which suits tool-routing and repetitive work. The catalog ships 8 chat models (Qwen 3.5 / 3.6 and Gemma 4 variants); run atomic-agent models list to see the current set, then models pull <id> and models use <id> to switch. See Local models for the full picture.
Do I have to use a local model?
No — local is the default, but not the only option. You can point Atomic Agent at any OpenAI-compatible HTTP endpoint, or configure a cloud provider, if you’d rather. Those paths are opt-in: nothing reaches a cloud model unless you set it up. See Local models.
Where does Atomic Agent store my data?
Everything the agent persists lives under one state directory — by default ~/.atomic-agent, overridable with ATOMIC_AGENT_STATE_DIR. That folder holds your config (config.json), secrets (.env, written with mode 0600), session transcripts, and memory. Treat it like an SSH-key directory: secrets are stored in plaintext locally. See Why local-first for the full layout.
How do I update it?
Re-run the install command from Installation to pull the latest release, or pin a specific version with ATOMIC_AGENT_VERSION. To update the model backend in managed mode, use atomic-agent models update.
How do I uninstall it?
Atomic Agent is a single binary plus its state directory. Delete the atomic-agent binary from your PATH, then remove the state directory (~/.atomic-agent by default) to erase all local data — sessions, memory, config, and secrets. Nothing is installed system-wide.
It’s not working — where do I start?
See the Troubleshooting page. The most common issues are the model server not being healthy (atomic-agent models status) and the wrong GPU being picked (atomic-agent models devices).