docker-switch

name	docker-switch
description	Use when switching the local Docker Model Runner model on <MAC_HOST> (:12434). Handles loading/unloading models, checking what's running, and configuring Cline/opencode to use a specific local model. Only one model can run at a time on Metal.
category	execution
runtimes	["claude"]
pii_safe	true

Docker Model Switcher

Docker Model Runner on <MAC_HOST> (:12434). OpenAI-compatible. One model at a time — loading a second crashes Metal compute.

Switch Model

From any machine (<WORKSTATION_HOST>, <INFERENCE_HOST>):

ssh <MAC_HOST> "docker-switch <alias>"

From Mac directly:

docker-switch <alias>

Available Models

Alias	Model ID	Size	Best For
coder-next	docker.io/ai/qwen3-coder-next:latest	45GB	Planning, architecture (71.3% SWE-bench)
qwen36	docker.io/ai/qwen3.6:latest	21GB	Code generation (68.2% SWE-bench)
devstral	docker.io/ai/devstral-small-2:latest	14GB	Agentic coding (68% SWE-bench, fast)
gemma4	docker.io/ai/gemma4:26B	16GB	Vision/multimodal
nemotron	docker.io/ai/nemotron3:latest	22GB	Long context (1M tokens)
qwen3coder	docker.io/ai/qwen3-coder:30B-A3B-UD-Q4_K_XL	16GB	Coding MoE

Check Current Model

ssh <MAC_HOST> "docker-switch list"

<USER_NAME>s Workflow

• Planning phase → ssh <MAC_HOST> "docker-switch coder-next"
• Coding phase → ssh <MAC_HOST> "docker-switch qwen36"

Cline / opencode Config

• Base URL: http://<PRIVATE_IP>:12434/v1
• API Key: sk-local
• Model ID: full Docker Hub ID (e.g. docker.io/ai/qwen3.6:latest)

Common Issues

Problem	Fix
Compute error 500	Two models loaded — run ssh <MAC_HOST> "docker-switch <alias>" to flush and load one
Model not found	Use full ID or supported alias
Slow first response	Model loading into Metal RAM — normal for first request
TTL expiry	Models auto-unload after ~4min idle — just make a request to reload

Metal Limits on Mac (128GB)

Models over ~25GB risk Metal compute errors when another model is also loaded. Always use docker-switch (which unloads all first) rather than loading directly.