I Cut Claude API Costs by 50% Using This Self Modifying Agentic System

Reddit r/artificial / 5/2/2026

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Key Points

The article describes a self-modifying “agentic” system called Hollow AgentOS that runs continuously (24/7) to offload time-consuming tasks from Claude API usage.
It claims to cut Claude API costs by about 50% by using local hardware (an RTX 5070 PC or CPU fallback) to iterate on work until results are produced without repeated paid API calls.
The system uses an iterative loop—propose code, build it, test it, edit it, and repeat indefinitely—employing Qwen 3.5 9B as a model alternative.
Hollow is designed to review and improve its own code by autonomously implementing improvements or extensions inside a sandbox after agents reach a 2/3 majority vote.
The author provides a GitHub repository for users to try, emphasizing that each user’s version may diverge over time due to constraint-driven, self-driven changes.

I've been developing a self-modifying Al agent system that effectively cuts my Claude API usage in half, Claude thinks and then I basically just copy/paste Claude's instructions for the agents to work on. Come back in 6 hours and it's done for free on local hardware. I'II explain precisely how it works below.

Repo: https://github.com/ninjahawk/hollow-agentOS

What it is:

A system that runs 24/7 on my RTX 5070 gaming PC (but can run on CPU on any laptops as well, just slower) which I use to offload tasks that can be figured out over X amount of time. It becomes a time issue, not a model issue.

Using a loop of iterative testing and self improvement, I've found Qwen 3.5: 9b running over an amount of time to be just as useful as Claude code. It will propose code, make it, test it, see if it worked, edit it, repeat indefinitely.

How it’s self modifying:

The system runs 24/7, when it doesn't have a task given to it, it will review the files which make it run, propose improvements, and autonomously implement those improvements or self-extensions within a sandboxed environment after it has a 2/3 majority vote by all agents.

Self-modification is customizable to an extent, maybe you want a different type of the system for yourself, just make that the constant anchor state and they’ll approach your end goal constantly in their own time. By design everyone who uses this will have a different version most likely since the changes are dependent on what the specific agents want to accomplish, no two will be the same. Agents are created based on a set of constraints which do not produce the same agent twice (at least that I’ve seen, some behaviors are universal however).

HOLLOW solves two key problems:

A. It enables you to truly develop without developing.

B. You allow it to truly develop itself as a system over time, learning and adapting without human interaction (unless you wanted to)

Huge thank you for the 74 Github stars and hundreds of testers over this past month, the support has truly shocked me. This is a work in progress but if anyone has any feedback, criticism, or success you'd like to share, please comment below!

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