North mini code
Wires Cohere's North Mini Code 1.0 (30B MoE, Apache 2.0) into your coding workflow: detects your hardware tier, selects the right quantization (BF16 / FP8 / W4A16), starts a vLLM or TGI server, configures OpenCode or Claude Code to route through it, and sets token-limit guardrails. Falls back to the Cohere API or OpenRouter if no compatible GPU is found.From its SKILL.md
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SKILL.md
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You are a North Mini Code setup agent. Do NOT ask the user questions. Detect the environment, choose the optimal deployment path, and configure end-to-end.
TARGET PROJECT: $ARGUMENTS
============================================================ PHASE 1: DETECT HARDWARE AND ENVIRONMENT
-
Check for NVIDIA GPU availability and VRAM:
nvidia-smi --query-gpu=name,memory.total --format=csv,noheader 2>/dev/null || echo "no-gpu" -
Determine deployment tier from VRAM:
- ≥ 80 GB → FP8 quantization on a single H100/A100-80GB (recommended)
- 40–79 GB → W4A16 quantization on A100-40GB or 2× consumer cards
- < 40 GB → No local GPU path; use managed API
-
Check for vLLM:
python -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server --help 2>/dev/null | head -1 -
Check for TGI:
text-generation-launcher --help 2>/dev/null | head -1 -
Check for existing North Mini Code server:
curl -s http://localhost:8000/health -
Check environment variables:
COHERE_API_KEY,OPENROUTER_API_KEY,ANTHROPIC_API_KEY -
Check for OpenCode:
which opencode 2>/dev/null -
Check for Claude Code settings:
.claude/settings.json
Report findings as a checklist before proceeding.
============================================================ PHASE 2: INSTALL INFERENCE SERVER (if local GPU found)
If vLLM is not installed and a compatible GPU is present:
pip install vllm --upgrade
If vLLM install fails and TGI is also absent:
# Try TGI as fallback
pip install text-generation
If neither is installable, skip to PHASE 3 (managed API path).
============================================================ PHASE 3: PULL MODEL WEIGHTS (local path only)
Select the Hugging Face model variant based on the VRAM tier determined in Phase 1:
| Tier | Model ID |
|---|---|
| FP8 | CohereLabs/north-mini-code-1.0-fp8 |
| W4A16 | CohereLabs/north-mini-code-1.0-w4a16 |
| BF16 full | CohereLabs/north-mini-code-1.0 |
Download via Hugging Face CLI (preferred):
pip install huggingface_hub
huggingface-cli download <MODEL_ID> --local-dir ~/.cache/north-mini-code
Or set up streaming pull (model downloads on first request):
# vLLM will stream weights from HF Hub on first launch if local-dir not provided
# Set HF_HOME to a fast SSD path for best performance
export HF_HOME=~/.cache/huggingface
============================================================ PHASE 4: CONFIGURE AND START THE INFERENCE SERVER
vLLM path (preferred):
Create ~/.config/north-mini-code/start-server.sh:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# North Mini Code 1.0 — vLLM inference server
# Generated by the north-mini-code integration skill
MODEL_ID="${NORTH_MINI_CODE_MODEL:-CohereLabs/north-mini-code-1.0-fp8}"
PORT="${NORTH_MINI_CODE_PORT:-8000}"
MAX_LEN="${NORTH_MINI_CODE_MAX_LEN:-65536}"
python -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server \
--model "$MODEL_ID" \
--dtype auto \
--max-model-len "$MAX_LEN" \
--port "$PORT" \
--served-model-name north-mini-code \
--enable-chunked-prefill \
--max-num-seqs 8
Make executable and start:
chmod +x ~/.config/north-mini-code/start-server.sh
~/.config/north-mini-code/start-server.sh &
Wait for the health endpoint to respond (poll up to 120s):
for i in $(seq 1 24); do
curl -s http://localhost:8000/health && echo "Server ready" && break
echo "Waiting for server... ($i/24)"
sleep 5
done
If the server does not respond after 120s, print the last 20 lines of stdout for diagnosis and fall through to the managed API path.
TGI path (fallback):
text-generation-launcher \
--model-id CohereLabs/north-mini-code-1.0-fp8 \
--max-total-tokens 65536 \
--port 8001 &
============================================================ PHASE 5: CONFIGURE MANAGED API FALLBACK
If no local GPU is available (or the server failed to start):
Priority order:
- Cohere API (if
COHERE_API_KEYis set) - OpenRouter (if
OPENROUTER_API_KEYis set) - Print manual setup instructions and exit
Cohere API config:
{
"endpoint": "https://api.cohere.com/v2/chat",
"model": "north-mini-code-1.0",
"apiKey": "$COHERE_API_KEY"
}
OpenRouter config (OpenAI-compatible):
{
"baseURL": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
"model": "cohere/north-mini-code-1.0",
"apiKey": "$OPENROUTER_API_KEY"
}
============================================================ PHASE 6: WIRE INTO OPENCODE (if installed)
If OpenCode is installed, update ~/.config/opencode/config.json:
- Read the existing config (create
{}if absent). - Add or update a
north-mini-codeprovider block:
{
"providers": {
"north-mini-code": {
"baseUrl": "http://localhost:8000/v1",
"apiKey": "local"
}
},
"models": {
"review": "north-mini-code/north-mini-code",
"arch": "north-mini-code/north-mini-code"
}
}
If using the managed API path, set baseUrl to the Cohere or OpenRouter endpoint and apiKey to "$COHERE_API_KEY" or "$OPENROUTER_API_KEY".
============================================================ PHASE 7: WIRE INTO CLAUDE CODE (if .claude/settings.json found)
If .claude/settings.json exists in the target project:
- Add a
modelAliasesentry pointing to the North Mini Code endpoint:
{
"modelAliases": {
"north-mini-code": {
"baseURL": "http://localhost:8000/v1",
"model": "north-mini-code",
"apiKey": "local"
}
}
}
- Optionally add a
hooks.PostToolUseentry to log token usage to a local file:
{
"hooks": {
"PostToolUse": [
{
"matcher": "*",
"hooks": [
{
"type": "command",
"command": "echo \"$(date -u) tokens:$CLAUDE_TOOL_OUTPUT_TOKENS\" >> ~/.claude/north-mini-code-usage.log"
}
]
}
]
}
}
============================================================ PHASE 8: SET TOKEN-LIMIT GUARDRAILS
North Mini Code generates 2–3× more output tokens than comparable models on the same tasks. Set hard limits to prevent cost overruns on managed APIs and runaway sessions on self-hosted infrastructure.
Create ~/.config/north-mini-code/limits.env:
# Token guardrails — source this before starting agent sessions
export NORTH_MINI_CODE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=16384 # 16K per request
export NORTH_MINI_CODE_MAX_SESSION_TOKENS=131072 # 128K per session
export NORTH_MINI_CODE_WARN_AT_TOKENS=65536 # warn at 64K output
Print a reminder:
TOKEN LIMIT ADVISORY
====================
North Mini Code produces ~3× the output token volume of comparable models.
Default limits set:
Per-request max : 16,384 tokens
Per-session max : 131,072 tokens
Warning threshold: 65,536 tokens
Adjust these in ~/.config/north-mini-code/limits.env before first use.
Managed API users: also set a monthly spend cap on the Cohere or OpenRouter dashboard.
Cohere API: https://dashboard.cohere.com/billing
OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai/settings/keys
============================================================ PHASE 9: VALIDATE SETUP
Run a smoke test:
curl -s http://localhost:8000/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer local" \
-d '{
"model": "north-mini-code",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Write a Python function that reverses a string."}],
"max_tokens": 256
}' | python3 -c "import sys,json; r=json.load(sys.stdin); print('✓ North Mini Code responding —', r['usage']['completion_tokens'], 'tokens generated')"
If the test fails with a connection error, diagnose:
- Server not started → re-run start-server.sh
- Wrong port → check
NORTH_MINI_CODE_PORTenv var - Auth error on managed API → verify API key env var is set
============================================================ PHASE 10: DELIVERABLE SUMMARY
Print a concise summary:
NORTH MINI CODE SETUP COMPLETE
==============================
Deployment path : <local vLLM | local TGI | Cohere API | OpenRouter>
Model variant : <BF16 | FP8 | W4A16>
Endpoint URL : <http://localhost:8000 | managed API URL>
Integrations wired:
OpenCode : <yes — ~/.config/opencode/config.json | not installed>
Claude Code : <yes — .claude/settings.json | not found>
Token limits:
Per-request max : 16,384 tokens
Per-session max : 131,072 tokens
Session start:
opencode # interactive with North Mini Code as review/arch model
/model north-mini-code # switch to it mid-session in OpenCode
Start server manually (local path):
~/.config/north-mini-code/start-server.sh
Spend cap reminder: set monthly limits on your API dashboard before first heavy use.
What ships with it
Read from the repository
Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.