I ran the same prompts through Claude and my local LLM, and the results weren't what I expected

A hands-on comparison of Claude versus a local LLM (with Brave Search MCP) using identical prompts to build a UX research self-study curriculum. Claude produced a detailed, structured course with specific tasks and real resource links. The local LLM hit its context window limit and produced shallower results, but improved significantly when the prompt was broken into smaller, focused chunks. The key takeaway: switching fully to a local LLM is feasible, but requires adapting prompts to work within context window constraints.