AI Coding Assistants

This document provides guidance for AI tools and developers using AI assistance when contributing to LocalAI.

LocalAI follows the same guidelines as the Linux kernel project for AI-assisted contributions. See the upstream policy here: https://docs.kernel.org/process/coding-assistants.html

The rules below mirror that policy, adapted to LocalAI's license and project layout. If anything is unclear, the kernel document is the authoritative reference for intent.

AI tools helping with LocalAI development should follow the standard project development process:

CONTRIBUTING.md — development workflow, commit conventions, and PR guidelines
.agents/coding-style.md — code style, editorconfig, logging, and documentation conventions
.agents/building-and-testing.md — build and test procedures

Licensing and Legal Requirements

All contributions must comply with LocalAI's licensing requirements:

LocalAI is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file
New source files should use the SPDX license identifier MIT where applicable to the file type
Contributions must be compatible with the MIT License and must not introduce code under incompatible licenses (e.g., GPL) without an explicit discussion with maintainers

Signed-off-by and Developer Certificate of Origin

AI agents MUST NOT add Signed-off-by tags. Only humans can legally certify the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO). The human submitter is responsible for:

Reviewing all AI-generated code
Ensuring compliance with licensing requirements
Adding their own Signed-off-by tag (when the project requires DCO) to certify the contribution
Taking full responsibility for the contribution

AI agents MUST NOT add Co-Authored-By trailers for themselves either. A human reviewer owns the contribution; the AI's involvement is recorded via Assisted-by (see below).

Attribution

When AI tools contribute to LocalAI development, proper attribution helps track the evolving role of AI in the development process. Contributions should include an Assisted-by tag in the commit message trailer in the following format:

Assisted-by: AGENT_NAME:MODEL_VERSION [TOOL1] [TOOL2]

Where:

AGENT_NAME — name of the AI tool or framework (e.g., Claude, Copilot, Cursor)
MODEL_VERSION — specific model version used (e.g., claude-opus-4-7, gpt-5)
[TOOL1] [TOOL2] — optional specialized analysis tools invoked by the agent (e.g., golangci-lint, staticcheck, go vet)

Basic development tools (git, go, make, editors) should not be listed.

Example

fix(llama-cpp): handle empty tool call arguments

Previously the parser panicked when the model returned a tool call with
an empty arguments object. Fall back to an empty JSON object in that
case so downstream consumers receive a valid payload.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-7 golangci-lint
Signed-off-by: Jane Developer <[email protected]>

Scope and Responsibility

Using an AI assistant does not reduce the contributor's responsibility. The human submitter must:

Understand every line that lands in the PR
Verify that generated code compiles, passes tests, and follows the project style
Confirm that any referenced APIs, flags, or file paths actually exist in the current tree (AI models may hallucinate identifiers)
Not submit AI output verbatim without review

Reviewers may ask for clarification on any change regardless of how it was produced. "An AI wrote it" is not an acceptable answer to a design question.