Running an agent locally is often the easiest way to get started. It can work directly with files and applications on your computer, making it useful for organizing documents, managing projects, and automating everyday tasks. The tradeoff is that giving an autonomous agent access to your personal computer can create some chaos if it makes a mistake—and when your laptop is closed or offline, so is your agent. Some people solve this with a dedicated Mac mini, home server, or even an old Android phone that stays online 24/7.

Cloud agents promise the simplest experience: sign in and start using an agent without installing or maintaining anything. In practice, many hosted agent services are more restricted than running your own, limiting tools, customization, or what the agent can access. This is improving quickly, however, with newer services such as Nous Research’s cloud agent and Grok Bot offering more capable hosted experiences.

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) offers the most flexibility. Your agent is always online, completely under your control, and can run its own services, databases, automations, websites, and public applications. It also keeps the agent separate from your personal computer. The tradeoff is a little more technical complexity—you’ll need to become comfortable with SSH, terminals, basic server administration, and securing your server. (Your agent can help with all of this!)