Lion Cipher Lab
Run a local, offline AI coding assistant
- AI Security
- Beginner
- ~40 min
- Free · no account required
Why it matters
AI coding assistants are being pushed into every developer's workflow, and the default versions send whatever you type — your source, your comments, sometimes your secrets — to someone else's servers. Running one locally flips that: the assistant lives on your machine, so private or proprietary code never leaves it, which is a real advantage for anyone who touches sensitive work. But the deeper reason to learn this hands-on is that AI-generated code fails in ways that specifically endanger developers. Studies have found that assistants readily produce insecure code and that people leaning on…
What you'll learn
- running a local code model with Ollama
- using an offline AI coding assistant
- wiring the Continue editor extension to a local model
- reviewing and testing AI-generated code
- recognizing hallucinated APIs and insecure suggestions
- spotting prompt injection in pasted content
Steps in this lab
- The idea: a coding helper that runs on your machine — and why that's the safe way to start
- Install Ollama
- Pull a small code model and open a chat
- Ask it to explain a snippet
- Ask it to generate a small snippet — then review and test it
- Optional: put the assistant inside your editor with Continue
- The limits that bite developers specifically
- What you just built — and the mindset to keep