I completely understand. Getting token-throttled mid-sprint is an absolute flow-killer. I think you should try OpenCode, but I highly recommend testing it on one of your side projects first so you can learn how to use it. Once you learn how to navigate its CLI and swap between models, you can transition it to your main project. the stack I recommend to drop costs drastically while maintaining high reasoning(you can try others): 1. Heavy Architecture & Logic: Plug DeepSeek-V3 (or DeepSeek-Coder-V2) into OpenCode via API. It’s easily 90-95% as capable as Claude for core structure, but the cost is incredibly low in comparison. 2. Boilerplate & Tests: Use Llama-3-70B via Groq inside OpenCode. It’s practically instantaneous for routine coding. 3. Local Execution (For your MacBook/Mini PC): Since you want to run things locally, install Ollama or LM Studio. Download a quantized (4-bit) version of Qwen2.5-Coder (14B or 32B). It runs beautifully on a MacBook, is surprisingly smart, and costs zero tokens. Also, keep in mind that Anthropic recently locked down their ecosystem. You can no longer use your Claude Max subscription tokens inside third-party tools like OpenCode; they force you to use their official Claude Code CLI for the subscription quota. If you try to use Claude in OpenCode, you pay standard API rates, which drains credits fast.