Run a private AI agent on your computer with OpenCode and Venice

What OpenCode is and why pair it with Venice

OpenCode is an open-source AI coding agent that runs inside your terminal. Despite the name, it does much more than write code. With full terminal access, it can install software, configure tools, and troubleshoot problems, acting like a private systems administrator that lives on your computer. It works with any LLM provider and has over 100,000 stars on GitHub.

Pairing it with Venice keeps the whole workflow private. Venice does not store your chats, log responses, or keep conversation history. That matters when your AI assistant can see and act on your machine. Over the course of this guide you will install OpenCode, connect Venice, set up two autonomous agent frameworks and a Bitcoin node in containers, and build a simple landing page.

Installing OpenCode and connecting Venice

Install OpenCode by copying its install command from opencode.ai, opening a terminal, and pasting it in. When the installation finishes, launch it by typing:

opencode

This opens the full terminal user interface (TUI). On a fresh install you will not be connected to any provider yet. Run the connect command, search for Venice, and paste in your API key. You generate that key in the Venice interface on the API screen by clicking the generate API key button. Your account needs credits for this to work.

Once Venice is connected, choose a model to use.

Private versus anonymized models

Venice's model list includes open-source models like GLM and DeepSeek alongside proprietary models from Claude, Google, OpenAI, Grok, and Minimax. The distinction between them is critical.

Open-source models such as the GLM family run fully private: no prompt data is stored anywhere. The proprietary models are anonymized instead. Venice hides your identity from the provider, so they never know the request came from you, but the provider still stores the prompt. Check the model list at docs.venice.ai/models to see which models are private and which are anonymized, then choose based on your needs.

In this guide the agent uses GLM. To start a project, run the initialize command and give it a name:

/init demo

The safety rule: watch every permission

OpenCode has complete access to your computer's terminal. That power is the point, but it also carries real risk. The agent will ask permission before running commands, reading directories, or writing files. Read those prompts and understand what the agent wants to do before approving.

You can grant permission once, or choose "always allow for this conversation" so it stops asking for repeated actions like reading a cloned repo. Do not disregard these permissions. They are your control point over what the AI does on your machine.

Installing autonomous agents safely in Docker

Frameworks like Agent Zero and OpenClaw can be intimidating to install, and some carry security concerns when run directly on your system. The safe approach is to run them inside Docker containers, which isolates them in a sandbox where they cannot touch your other files. OpenCode handles this for you, and if Docker is not installed yet, it will help you install it first.

To install Agent Zero, copy its GitHub repo URL and tell the agent what you want:

install Agent Zero to a new Docker container

The agent reads the repo, learns how to install it, and sets it up in a fresh container. If a container with that name already exists, it asks whether to remove it, run a new one, or use the existing one.

OpenClaw works the same way, and matters more here because its default installation does not use Docker. Search the OpenClaw repo for "Docker" to confirm the included Docker files, then start a new conversation and ask:

install OpenClaw into a Docker container

When it finishes, you can open each container's port to use the agent in its sandboxed environment. The agent can also edit configuration inside a running container, for example changing the main provider in OpenClaw's config.

A Bitcoin node and the sysadmin mindset

You can apply the same pattern to a Bitcoin node. Copy the repo URL and, in a new conversation, ask the agent to install a Bitcoin node inside a Docker container. Note the practical requirements: a full node needs at least 700 GB to store the blockchain and generally wants to stay online, so this suits a machine that can run continuously.

The broader point is that this is no longer about coding. With OpenCode and Venice you have a systems administrator on demand, handling installation, configuration, and troubleshooting that would otherwise mean googling every error along the way.

Plan Mode and building with code

OpenCode has a build mode and a plan mode, and you switch between them by pressing tab. Plan mode gets the specifications down on paper first so build mode knows exactly what to do and does not get lost or hallucinate tasks.

To see it work, switch to plan mode and ask the agent to build something, dragging in a reference file if you have one:

follow this style guide to make a basic landing page for Venice

In plan mode the agent reads your file, then asks clarifying questions: what the page should focus on, which sections to include, the tech stack, and where the files should live. After you confirm, the planner produces a full plan with color palette, typography, page sections, and more. Approve it, and build mode creates the page. You can then copy the result, paste it into a terminal, and view it.

The same agent handles small system tasks too. Ask it to make OpenCode open at startup and it writes the code to auto-start on login after you grant permission, and it can remove that just as easily.

What you can do now

You now have a private AI agent that can manage your computer, install and configure software, run frameworks in isolated containers, and write code and scripts. Used with Venice, the entire workflow stays private.

Remember you need API credits in your Venice account, and always pay attention to the permissions you grant. If you get stuck, the Venice Discord community can help, and more tutorials are on the Venice YouTube channel.

Key takeaways

• OpenCode is a terminal AI agent that installs, configures, and troubleshoots software, not just writes code, and Venice keeps that activity private.
• Open-source models like GLM run fully private; proprietary models are anonymized but still stored by the provider, so check docs.venice.ai/models before choosing.
• Run autonomous agents like Agent Zero and OpenClaw inside Docker containers so they stay sandboxed away from your files.
• The agent has full terminal access, so read and approve every permission prompt, and use Plan Mode to keep build tasks accurate.