Local-first does not mean pretending the cloud does not exist. It means the default control plane belongs to the business using the system. Prompts, scripts, schedules, logs, and data handling should be visible.
Cloud models can still be useful for hard reasoning, long-context review, or specialist steps. The important distinction is that escalation is deliberate. The owned system decides when to ask for help, records what happened, and remains understandable afterwards.
That approach is slower to sell than a black-box SaaS dashboard, but it is easier to operate. The team can see what changed, inspect the run history, and decide what should happen next.