What stays local with a self-hosted agent proxy
Understand the data plane, the hosted control plane, and the availability tradeoff before choosing a deployment mode.
“Self-hosted” can mean a local process, a private data plane, or an entirely disconnected system. Those are different deployment promises. Before choosing a mode, follow a request and identify which machine sees the prompt, which holds the provider key, and which decides whether work is allowed.
FlockTab's self-hosted mode moves the proxy onto the user's machine while retaining the hosted tab and ledger controls.
Trace the two paths
The local proxy forwards supported inference traffic to the provider using credentials available on that machine. Its hosted control calls establish identity, request a reservation, and commit or refund the result. Usage counts and necessary control metadata cross that control boundary.
The normal inference control path does not send the prompt or provider key to the hosted ledger. That does not mean all product features are offline or send no other metadata. Review optional hooks, observation features, and any connector separately according to what they transmit.
Reference: FlockTab: security and data boundaries
Understand the availability tradeoff
The local proxy still depends on the hosted control plane to admit work. If the ledger is unavailable, supported new calls fail closed. Running the data plane locally does not create an air-gapped ledger or an unlimited offline spending allowance.
In an illustrative outage drill, the local process is healthy but cannot reserve against the hosted tab. The expected outcome is refusal before the provider, not continued inference because the provider key remains available. Test this behavior with a mock upstream so the drill has a clear observable result.
Operate local credentials deliberately
Keeping keys on the machine changes who operates their storage, filesystem permissions, backups, and rotation. Treat local environment files as credentials, and ensure they do not enter source control or shared diagnostic bundles. Review which processes run under the same operating-system account.
FlockTab's self-hosted setup is a local proxy deployment, not the entire development stack. The supported CLI and packaged binary reduce setup work, but someone still owns process health, updates, and compatibility with the hosted control contract.
Verify the route after installation
Use the command reference to start the proxy and check identity and health. Then verify one admitted test request and one denied request. Inspect the request's Agent, provider, and outcome without printing keys or prompt bodies into the logs.
A useful deployment decision names the boundary explicitly: local inference forwarding and credential use, hosted admission and accounting, and the provider as the destination of model traffic. That description gives a security reviewer more actionable information than a broad claim that everything is self-hosted.
After completing the self-hosted setup, these commands start the local proxy and check the configured project. Use the returned status to verify the selected route before running a workload.
tab up
tab statusReference: FlockTab: command reference and setup
Sources checked 23 September 2026. Numerical scenarios are illustrative unless explicitly identified as provider data. Vendor limits and interfaces can change; consult the linked documentation for current details.