Use an LM Studio server from anywhere

By default, LM Studio’s built-in server listens on http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1 — it isn’t reachable from another machine. LM Studio does have a serve on local network option, but that’s a LAN feature: it binds beyond loopback for devices on the same network, and authentication is off by default. Keep LM Studio on localhost and run the Tokios connector next to it instead: the connector dials out to https://api.tokios.com, and your tools, teammates, or agents call one authenticated endpoint from anywhere.

Beginner-friendly. LM Studio is a point-and-click desktop app — download a model, click Start server, and you’re serving. A great first backend if you prefer a GUI over the command line.

LM Studio’s network serving stops at your LAN

LM Studio’s serve on local network toggle is documented as exactly that — local network. Turning it on binds the server to your machine’s network interface (not just 127.0.0.1) so other devices on the same Wi-Fi or LAN can reach it, and LM Studio shows a warning when you enable it because auth is off by default. That’s a reasonable fit for reaching your own server from another device on the same network. It doesn’t extend to a teammate on another network, a hosted agent, or anything you’d want to reach over the open internet with a real credential behind it.

This isn’t a knock on LM Studio’s local-network serving — it does what it says for devices on your LAN. Tokios solves a different problem: an authenticated endpoint reachable from anywhere, without opening LM Studio to your network at all. LM Studio is a first-class Tokios backend, alongside Ollama, llama.cpp, and vLLM.

The outbound-only way

Load a model and start LM Studio's server

Open LM Studio, go to the Developer (or Local Server) tab, load a model, and click to start the server. Leave serve on local network off — Tokios doesn’t need it. LM Studio keeps listening on the default http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1.

Pair the Tokios connector

Sign in at tokios.com/console, open the Setup tab, and click Start pairing. Tokios shows a one-time claim code like TKS-XXXX-XXXX, valid for about 15 minutes.On the machine running LM Studio, run the install one-liner for your OS:

Windows

irm https://tokios.com/downloads/install/windows | iex; tokios-install -Code 'TKS-XXXX-XXXX'

macOS

curl -fsSL https://tokios.com/downloads/install/macos | sh -s -- --code TKS-XXXX-XXXX

Linux

curl -fsSL https://tokios.com/downloads/install/linux | sh -s -- --code TKS-XXXX-XXXX

Already have tokios-connector installed? Pass the code directly instead:

tokios-connector TKS-XXXX-XXXX

Back in the console, approve the device on the Setup or Connectors tab. The connector’s token is delivered over the tunnel once approved — you never see it on screen or paste it into a file.

Point the connector at LM Studio's /v1 API

LM Studio’s built-in server already speaks the OpenAI-compatible surface Tokios expects. For the basic single-model path, the console’s Setup wizard uses http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1 as the upstream automatically. If you’re serving multiple models through a tokios-connector.json config, set the upstream BaseUrl explicitly:

{
  "Upstream": {
    "BaseUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1"
  }
}

See Connector config for the full multi-model file format.

In the Models tab, register the LM Studio model and choose a public name — for example, lmstudio-tunnel. That public name, not LM Studio’s local model id, is what clients send in the model field.

Create an API key

In the Keys tab, click Create key. Optionally scope it to specific deployments with model-name patterns (comma-separated globs, * for all). Copy the sk-tok-… key now — it’s shown only once.

Tokios works the same way regardless of the model format LM Studio loaded — GGUF or MLX — since the connector only ever talks to LM Studio’s OpenAI-compatible /v1 surface, not the model file directly.

Use it from anywhere

Once you have a deployment name and an API key, any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible client can reach your LM Studio model — from another machine, a teammate’s laptop, or a hosted agent.

curl https://api.tokios.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-tok-YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "lmstudio-tunnel",
    "stream": true,
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.tokios.com/v1",
    api_key="sk-tok-YOUR_KEY",
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="lmstudio-tunnel",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
    stream=True,
)

for chunk in response:
    print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content or "", end="")

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.tokios.com
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-tok-YOUR_KEY
claude --model lmstudio-tunnel

The model field is always your registered deployment name (lmstudio-tunnel above), never LM Studio’s local model id. See Use Claude Code for persisting the environment variables across sessions.

FAQ

Does streaming work?

Yes. Set "stream": true and Tokios returns standard server-sent events (SSE) in OpenAI or Anthropic format, depending on which API surface you called.

Can I expose more than one model loaded in LM Studio?

Yes. Register additional deployments in the Models tab, or use a tokios-connector.json config file to define multiple upstreams and routes for a single connector. See Connector config.

Do I need to keep the LM Studio app open, or can the connector run as a service?

LM Studio’s server needs the app running to serve requests. The tokios-connector process itself can run unattended next to it — see Connector config for the config-file options used when running the connector long-term, such as for multiple models or as a background service.

Do I still need LM Studio's serve on local network option?

No. Leave it off. The connector reaches LM Studio over loopback (127.0.0.1:1234), so LM Studio never needs to bind beyond localhost — Tokios is what makes the model reachable from other machines, authenticated with your sk-tok-… key.

Your model never leaves your machine — your endpoint works everywhere

LM Studio keeps doing exactly what it does today, on localhost, with no inbound ports and no network-serving toggle switched on. The connector only dials out. Everything past that — auth, routing, streaming — is one endpoint you can call from any machine, teammate, or agent you choose to give a key to.

Quickstart

Pair a connector and register your first model end to end.

API keys

Create, scope, and rotate sk-tok-… keys for teammates and agents.

Hardware & fit

Serve & connect your runtime

Connect a client or app

Compare

Use an LM Studio server from anywhere — safely

LM Studio’s network serving stops at your LAN

The outbound-only way

Use it from anywhere

FAQ

Your model never leaves your machine — your endpoint works everywhere

Quickstart

API keys

​LM Studio’s network serving stops at your LAN

​The outbound-only way

​Use it from anywhere

​FAQ

​Your model never leaves your machine — your endpoint works everywhere

Quickstart

API keys

LM Studio’s network serving stops at your LAN

The outbound-only way

Use it from anywhere

FAQ

Your model never leaves your machine — your endpoint works everywhere