Disclosure: I maintain Lynkr, an open-source router whose design decisions this post explains. The failure modes described are patterns widely reported across router issue trackers and local-LLM forums — the examples are representative reconstructions, not captured transcripts. The problem is real either way; ask anyone who's routed a coding agent to a 7B model.
Everyone who gets their first LLM router working does the same thing within the hour: point the expensive coding agent at a free local model and watch the bill drop to zero.
Then the agent tries to edit a file.
The graveyard of downgraded sessions
If you browse the issue tracker of any Claude Code router — or r/LocalLLaMA on any given week — you'll find the same story in a hundred variations. The routing works perfectly. The session dies anyway. The killers, in rough order of frequency:
