# Recursive launches Flint, a laptop coding model it says was largely built by AI

DevFeed: [Recursive launches Flint, a laptop coding model it says was largely built by AI](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/recursive-launches-flint-a-laptop-coding-model-it-says-was-largely-built-by-ai-93842.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/21/recursive-launches-flint-a-laptop-coding-model-it-says-was-largely-built-by-ai/>)

Author: Aditya Mehta

Published: 2026-10-21T20:27:41Z

Content type: news

Language: en

Sources: [TechCrunch | AI News & Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/techcrunch-ai-news-artificial-intelligence.md>)

Topics: [Local AI](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/local-ai.md>), [coding assistant](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/coding-assistant.md>), [model architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/model-architecture.md>), [codex](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/codex.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-research](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-research.md>), [ai-research-assistant](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-research-assistant.md>), [ai-startup](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-startup.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coding.md>), [coding-assistants](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coding-assistants.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [eureka](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/eureka.md>), [flint](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/flint.md>), [free](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/free.md>), [laptop](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/laptop.md>), [launches](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/launches.md>), [model](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/model.md>), [research](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/research.md>), [startup](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/startup.md>), [tc](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tc.md>), [test](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/test.md>)

## AI overview

Recursive's Flint is a free, open-source coding model designed to run locally on a laptop, enabling offline use and keeping code off cloud services. Its mixture-of-experts design activates 2.5 billion of its 40 billion parameters per task. In Recursive's tests, it reached about 131 tokens per second on an M4 Pro MacBook Pro and outperformed other models under 50 billion parameters on SWE-Bench Verified; those results are company-reported, while Wired's reviewer also reported successful coding tasks on a 48GB Mac. Recursive says its Eureka Machine assisted with nearly every development stage, including low-bit training that reduced the model's size by 71% with almost no quality loss. The company acknowledges Flint needs more guidance than large paid coding assistants and recommends splitting large tasks into smaller steps. Eureka remains a human-overseen research assistant; fully recursive self-improvement is a longer-term goal.

## Source excerpt

Startup Recursive has released Flint, a free, laptop-sized coding model built largely by its own AI research system, as an early test of AI that improves itself.