r/LocalLLM rules, stats, and what to post

This is a subreddit for discussing large language models that run locally, on your own hardware, rather than through a hosted service. People come here to talk about running models themselves, and the rules make clear that the local angle is the heart of the community. Closed models are not banned from conversation, but a post should not make them the main focus. If you build or market anything in this space, you are talking to people who care about keeping their AI on their own machines.

Four rules decide whether a marketing adjacent post survives here. “Off-Topic Posts” requires every post to relate to LLMs, and “Post is not local LLM related.” goes further by saying this subreddit is about local LLM usage, so closed models can be discussed but should not be the primary focus of a post. “Limit Self-Promotion” points to the 1/10th rule, meaning self promotion should not be more than 10% of your content. “Low Effort Posts” asks you to spend a reasonable amount of time searching for existing questions before you post a new one. On top of those, “Do not duplicate posts under review” bans spamming similar posts to get around moderation, and “Follow Reddit's Content Policy” applies to everything you share.

A good post here is genuinely about running LLMs locally, and it shows you did your homework first. Search the subreddit for your question or topic before posting, because the low effort rule is enforced through that expectation. If you have built something, share it as part of a broader contribution, keeping your self promotion to no more than about one in ten of your posts and comments. Write posts that center local usage, like your setup, your experience running models on your own hardware, or a problem you solved, and keep any mention of closed models to a side note rather than the headline.

The fastest way to lose a post here is to make a closed model the primary focus, because “Post is not local LLM related.” exists for exactly that. Posting without searching first trips “Low Effort Posts”, and pushing your own product too hard trips “Limit Self-Promotion”. If a post sits under review, do not submit copies, because “Do not duplicate posts under review” says spamming similar posts to get around it will get you banned. Anything off the LLM topic fails “Off-Topic Posts”, and everything you post must also satisfy “Follow Reddit's Content Policy”.

This is one of the few communities where the rules tell you exactly how much self promotion is acceptable, and I respect that clarity. The local focus rule is the one that catches people, because a post about a closed model can be fine as a side note but cannot be the main event. I also like that the search before posting rule is written as a courtesy to the community rather than a punishment. Come here to be useful first and your tool mentions will land better.