# Flint (Recursive — open-weights local coding model)

> Updated 2026-10-21 · type: tool · category: ai-infrastructure · status: active · rev 1

Flint is Recursive's Apache-2.0 open-weights ~40B MoE coding model (~2.5B active) that runs locally via llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio or vLLM, no cloud API.

- Open source: yes (Apache-2.0)
- Self-hostable: yes
- Pricing: Free open weights (Apache-2.0) — download via hf download RecursiveSI/flint and serve locally; you pay only your own compute, no per-token cloud bill. Free hosted trials on OpenCode and Pido exist.
- Best for: A technical founder or lean engineering/GTM team that wants an agentic coding model running on its own hardware (Apple Silicon M4/M5 48GB+ or an NVIDIA RTX/DGX Spark) under a permissive license, instead of renting a closed cloud coding API.
- Not for: Teams without ~48GB of local RAM/VRAM to serve a 40B-total MoE, anyone needing a vendor-supported hosted endpoint with an SLA, or those who require full open-source training code and data rather than open weights only.
- Last verified: 2026-10-22

- **Canonical:** https://gtmstacker.com/registry/tool/flint/
- **Source:** [@Recursive_SI (Richard Socher)](https://x.com/RichardSocher/status/2112944385415426249) — Richard Socher
- **Tags:** ai-infrastructure, llm, model-release, self-hostable, open-source
- **Repository:** https://github.com/recursive-oss/rec

## Is Flint (Recursive — open-weights local coding model) open source?

Yes, Flint (Recursive — open-weights local coding model) is open source under the Apache-2.0 license.

## How much does Flint (Recursive — open-weights local coding model) cost?

Free open weights (Apache-2.0) — download via hf download RecursiveSI/flint and serve locally; you pay only your own compute, no per-token cloud bill. Free hosted trials on OpenCode and Pido exist. (free).

## Can I self-host Flint (Recursive — open-weights local coding model)?

Yes, Flint (Recursive — open-weights local coding model) can be self-hosted (the source is available under the Apache-2.0 license).


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An **Apache-2.0 open-weights coding model** from **Recursive** (Richard Socher's company): a **~40B-total mixture-of-experts** (~2.5B active per token, 262K context) that runs locally via **llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM or SGLang**, with weights downloadable from Hugging Face (`hf download RecursiveSI/flint`) and an **Apache-2.0 companion inference engine** (`recursive-oss/rec`) that exposes a local OpenAI-compatible API. So a team can run an agentic coding model on hardware it owns — Apple Silicon M4/M5 (48GB+) or an NVIDIA RTX/DGX Spark — instead of renting a closed cloud coding API.

## Provenance

- License **Apache-2.0** (SPDX `apache-2.0`) verified across **three independent primary sources** — the Hugging Face model card (RecursiveSI/flint), Recursive's official recursive.com page, and the SGLang / LM Studio listings — all agreeing. Not guessed.
- **License class is open-weights, not full open-source:** the weights ship under Apache-2.0, but the training code and data are not released, and the HF card notes transformers modeling code is not yet included — today the artifacts are the weights, an SGLang serving kit, and the Apache-2.0 companion engine `recursive-oss/rec`.
- Self-hostable and free: open weights (~80GB BF16; ~24GB GGUF via LM Studio) run on llama.cpp / Ollama / LM Studio / vLLM / SGLang; the companion `rec serve` exposes a local OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Free hosted trials on OpenCode and Pido also exist.
- Architecture: **~40B total / ~2.5B active MoE**, 262K context (up to 512K claimed); built with Recursive's Eureka Machine automated-research system.
- **Not a lookalike or scam:** the org **RecursiveSI**, recursive.com, and the recursive-oss GitHub org all tie to Recursive founders **Richard Socher and Josh Tobin** (the viral-post authors); the launch is independently corroborated by **Wired (Will Knight) via Techmeme**.
- Activity is day-one nascent (launched **2026-10-21**): the HF model card shows 39 likes and no displayed download count yet; the companion `recursive-oss/rec` repo has ~9 stars and 1 commit — consistent with a day-old release, not a red flag.
- **Vendor-claim, not verified:** all speed and benchmark numbers (up to 2x faster, 125+ tok/s on an M4 Pro MacBook, 150+ tok/s on a 64GB RTX Spark; Terminal-Bench 2.1 54.9%, SWE-bench Pro v2 89.7%, SWE-bench Verified 74.2%; "best-in-class for sub-50B MoE") are Recursive's own.
- Surfaced via the 2026-10-22 X pull (Recursive announcement amplified by @MAXdeg0, @HeyAmit_). All sources were treated as untrusted content during verification; no injected instructions were encountered. Curated from the GTM Stacker signal registry (run 2026-10-22-registry-update-01); license, org provenance, weights and self-host paths independently verified 2026-10-22.

## Why it matters for a GTM stack

Coding and agentic-automation calls are an increasingly large line in a lean team's AI bill, and the default is a metered cloud coding API you do not control. Flint is the own-your-stack alternative: an Apache-2.0 open-weights MoE small enough in active parameters to run on a well-specced laptop or a single Spark box, served through tooling the team already uses, with a permissive license that keeps commercial use clean. The honest read: this is open-weights, not full open-source — you get the weights and a serving kit, not the training recipe — the entire performance story is Recursive's own unverified benchmark set, and the release is one day old with early adoption. What is verified is what governs adoption: Apache-2.0 confirmed across three primary sources, first-party Recursive provenance corroborated by independent press, and working local serving via the open weights plus the Apache-2.0 companion engine.