llama.cpp

Roadmap / Project status / Manifesto / ggml

Inference of Meta's LLaMA model (and others) in pure C/C++

Recent API changes

• Changelog for libllama API
• Changelog for llama-server REST API

Hot topics

• Introducing GGUF-my-LoRA https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp/discussions/10123
• Hugging Face Inference Endpoints now support GGUF out of the box! https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp/discussions/9669
• Hugging Face GGUF editor: discussion | tool

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Description

The main goal of llama.cpp is to enable LLM inference with minimal setup and state-of-the-art performance on a wide range of hardware - locally and in the cloud.

• Plain C/C++ implementation without any dependencies
• Apple silicon is a first-class citizen - optimized via ARM NEON, Accelerate and Metal frameworks
• AVX, AVX2, AVX512 and AMX support for x86 architectures
• 1.5-bit, 2-bit, 3-bit, 4-bit, 5-bit, 6-bit, and 8-bit integer quantization for faster inference and reduced memory use
• Custom CUDA kernels for running LLMs on NVIDIA GPUs (support for AMD GPUs via HIP and Moore Threads MTT GPUs via MUSA)
• Vulkan and SYCL backend support
• CPU+GPU hybrid inference to partially accelerate models larger than the total VRAM capacity

The llama.cpp project is the main playground for developing new features for the ggml library.

Models

Typically finetunes of the base models below are supported as well.

Instructions for adding support for new models: HOWTO-add-model.md

Text-only

• LLaMA 🦙
• LLaMA 2 🦙🦙
• LLaMA 3 🦙🦙🦙
• Mistral 7B
• Mixtral MoE
• DBRX
• Falcon
• Chinese LLaMA / Alpaca and Chinese LLaMA-2 / Alpaca-2
• Vigogne (French)
• BERT
• Koala
• Baichuan 1 & 2 + derivations
• Aquila 1 & 2
• Starcoder models
• Refact
• MPT
• Bloom
• Yi models
• StableLM models
• Deepseek models
• Qwen models
• PLaMo-13B
• Phi models
• GPT-2
• Orion 14B
• InternLM2
• CodeShell
• Gemma
• Mamba
• Grok-1
• Xverse
• Command-R models
• SEA-LION
• GritLM-7B + GritLM-8x7B
• OLMo
• OLMo 2
• OLMoE
• Granite models
• GPT-NeoX + Pythia
• Snowflake-Arctic MoE
• Smaug
• Poro 34B
• Bitnet b1.58 models
• Flan T5
• Open Elm models
• ChatGLM3-6b + ChatGLM4-9b
• SmolLM
• EXAONE-3.0-7.8B-Instruct
• FalconMamba Models
• Jais
• Bielik-11B-v2.3
• RWKV-6
• GigaChat-20B-A3B

Multimodal

• LLaVA 1.5 models, LLaVA 1.6 models
• BakLLaVA
• Obsidian
• ShareGPT4V
• MobileVLM 1.7B/3B models
• Yi-VL
• Mini CPM
• Moondream
• Bunny
• Qwen2-VL

Bindings

• Python: abetlen/llama-cpp-python
• Go: go-skynet/go-llama.cpp
• Node.js: withcatai/node-llama-cpp
• JS/TS (llama.cpp server client): lgrammel/modelfusion
• JS/TS (Programmable Prompt Engine CLI): offline-ai/cli
• JavaScript/Wasm (works in browser): tangledgroup/llama-cpp-wasm
• Typescript/Wasm (nicer API, available on npm): ngxson/wllama
• Ruby: yoshoku/llama_cpp.rb
• Rust (more features): edgenai/llama_cpp-rs
• Rust (nicer API): mdrokz/rust-llama.cpp
• Rust (more direct bindings): utilityai/llama-cpp-rs
• C#/.NET: SciSharp/LLamaSharp
• C#/VB.NET (more features - community license): LM-Kit.NET
• Scala 3: donderom/llm4s
• Clojure: phronmophobic/llama.clj
• React Native: mybigday/llama.rn
• Java: kherud/java-llama.cpp
• Zig: deins/llama.cpp.zig
• Flutter/Dart: netdur/llama_cpp_dart
• Flutter: xuegao-tzx/Fllama
• PHP (API bindings and features built on top of llama.cpp): distantmagic/resonance (more info)
• Guile Scheme: guile_llama_cpp
• Swift srgtuszy/llama-cpp-swift
• Swift ShenghaiWang/SwiftLlama

UIs

(to have a project listed here, it should clearly state that it depends on llama.cpp)

• AI Sublime Text plugin (MIT)
• cztomsik/ava (MIT)
• Dot (GPL)
• eva (MIT)
• iohub/collama (Apache-2.0)
• janhq/jan (AGPL)
• KanTV (Apache-2.0)
• KodiBot (GPL)
• llama.vim (MIT)
• LARS (AGPL)
• Llama Assistant (GPL)
• LLMFarm (MIT)
• LLMUnity (MIT)
• LMStudio (proprietary)
• LocalAI (MIT)
• LostRuins/koboldcpp (AGPL)
• MindMac (proprietary)
• MindWorkAI/AI-Studio (FSL-1.1-MIT)
• Mobile-Artificial-Intelligence/maid (MIT)
• Mozilla-Ocho/llamafile (Apache-2.0)
• nat/openplayground (MIT)
• nomic-ai/gpt4all (MIT)
• ollama/ollama (MIT)
• oobabooga/text-generation-webui (AGPL)
• PocketPal AI (MIT)
• psugihara/FreeChat (MIT)
• ptsochantaris/emeltal (MIT)
• pythops/tenere (AGPL)
• ramalama (MIT)
• semperai/amica (MIT)
• withcatai/catai (MIT)

Tools

• akx/ggify – download PyTorch models from HuggingFace Hub and convert them to GGML
• akx/ollama-dl – download models from the Ollama library to be used directly with llama.cpp
• crashr/gppm – launch llama.cpp instances utilizing NVIDIA Tesla P40 or P100 GPUs with reduced idle power consumption
• gpustack/gguf-parser - review/check the GGUF file and estimate the memory usage
• Styled Lines (proprietary licensed, async wrapper of inference part for game development in Unity3d with pre-built Mobile and Web platform wrappers and a model example)

Infrastructure

• Paddler - Stateful load balancer custom-tailored for llama.cpp
• GPUStack - Manage GPU clusters for running LLMs
• llama_cpp_canister - llama.cpp as a smart contract on the Internet Computer, using WebAssembly

Games

• Lucy's Labyrinth - A simple maze game where agents controlled by an AI model will try to trick you.

Supported backends

Backend	Target devices
Metal	Apple Silicon
BLAS	All
BLIS	All
SYCL	Intel and Nvidia GPU
MUSA	Moore Threads MTT GPU
CUDA	Nvidia GPU
hipBLAS	AMD GPU
Vulkan	GPU
CANN	Ascend NPU

Building the project

The main product of this project is the llama library. Its C-style interface can be found in include/llama.h. The project also includes many example programs and tools using the llama library. The examples range from simple, minimal code snippets to sophisticated sub-projects such as an OpenAI-compatible HTTP server. Possible methods for obtaining the binaries:

• Clone this repository and build locally, see how to build
• On MacOS or Linux, install llama.cpp via brew, flox or nix
• Use a Docker image, see documentation for Docker
• Download pre-built binaries from releases

Obtaining and quantizing models

The Hugging Face platform hosts a number of LLMs compatible with llama.cpp:

• Trending
• LLaMA

After downloading a model, use the CLI tools to run it locally - see below.

llama.cpp requires the model to be stored in the GGUF file format. Models in other data formats can be converted to GGUF using the convert_*.py Python scripts in this repo.

The Hugging Face platform provides a variety of online tools for converting, quantizing and hosting models with llama.cpp:

• Use the GGUF-my-repo space to convert to GGUF format and quantize model weights to smaller sizes
• Use the GGUF-my-LoRA space to convert LoRA adapters to GGUF format (more info: https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp/discussions/10123)
• Use the GGUF-editor space to edit GGUF meta data in the browser (more info: https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp/discussions/9268)
• Use the Inference Endpoints to directly host llama.cpp in the cloud (more info: https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp/discussions/9669)

To learn more about model quantization, read this documentation

llama-cli

A CLI tool for accessing and experimenting with most of llama.cpp's functionality.

• Run simple text completion

  llama-cli -m model.gguf -p "I believe the meaning of life is" -n 128
  
  # I believe the meaning of life is to find your own truth and to live in accordance with it. For me, this means being true to myself and following my passions, even if they don't align with societal expectations. I think that's what I love about yoga – it's not just a physical practice, but a spiritual one too. It's about connecting with yourself, listening to your inner voice, and honoring your own unique journey.
  

• Run in conversation mode

  llama-cli -m model.gguf -p "You are a helpful assistant" -cnv
  
  # > hi, who are you?
  # Hi there! I'm your helpful assistant! I'm an AI-powered chatbot designed to assist and provide information to users like you. I'm here to help answer your questions, provide guidance, and offer support on a wide range of topics. I'm a friendly and knowledgeable AI, and I'm always happy to help with anything you need. What's on your mind, and how can I assist you today?
  #
  # > what is 1+1?
  # Easy peasy! The answer to 1+1 is... 2!
  

• Run with custom chat template

  # use the "chatml" template
  llama-cli -m model.gguf -p "You are a helpful assistant" -cnv --chat-template chatml
  
  # use a custom template
  llama-cli -m model.gguf -p "You are a helpful assistant" -cnv --in-prefix 'User: ' --reverse-prompt 'User:'
  

  Supported templates

• Constrain the output with a custom grammar

  llama-cli -m model.gguf -n 256 --grammar-file grammars/json.gbnf -p 'Request: schedule a call at 8pm; Command:'
  
  # {"appointmentTime": "8pm", "appointmentDetails": "schedule a a call"}
  

  The grammars/ folder contains a handful of sample grammars. To write your own, check out the GBNF Guide.

  For authoring more complex JSON grammars, check out https://grammar.intrinsiclabs.ai/

llama-server

A lightweight, OpenAI API compatible, HTTP server for serving LLMs.

• Start a local HTTP server with default configuration on port 8080

  llama-server -m model.gguf --port 8080
  
  # Basic web UI can be accessed via browser: http://localhost:8080
  # Chat completion endpoint: http://localhost:8080/v1/chat/completions
  

• Support multiple-users and parallel decoding

  # up to 4 concurrent requests, each with 4096 max context
  llama-server -m model.gguf -c 16384 -np 4
  

• Enable speculative decoding

  # the draft.gguf model should be a small variant of the target model.gguf
  llama-server -m model.gguf -md draft.gguf
  

• Serve an embedding model

  # use the /embedding endpoint
  llama-server -m model.gguf --embedding --pooling cls -ub 8192
  

• Serve a reranking model

  # use the /reranking endpoint
  llama-server -m model.gguf --reranking
  

• Constrain all outputs with a grammar

  # custom grammar
  llama-server -m model.gguf --grammar-file grammar.gbnf
  
  # JSON
  llama-server -m model.gguf --grammar-file grammars/json.gbnf
  

llama-perplexity

A tool for measuring the perplexity ¹² (and other quality metrics) of a model over a given text.

• Measure the perplexity over a text file

  llama-perplexity -m model.gguf -f file.txt
  
  # [1]15.2701,[2]5.4007,[3]5.3073,[4]6.2965,[5]5.8940,[6]5.6096,[7]5.7942,[8]4.9297, ...
  # Final estimate: PPL = 5.4007 +/- 0.67339
  

• Measure KL divergence

  # TODO
  

llama-bench

Benchmark the performance of the inference for various parameters.

• Run default benchmark

  llama-bench -m model.gguf
  
  # Output:
  # | model               |       size |     params | backend    | threads |          test |                  t/s |
  # | ------------------- | ---------: | ---------: | ---------- | ------: | ------------: | -------------------: |
  # | qwen2 1.5B Q4_0     | 885.97 MiB |     1.54 B | Metal,BLAS |      16 |         pp512 |      5765.41 ± 20.55 |
  # | qwen2 1.5B Q4_0     | 885.97 MiB |     1.54 B | Metal,BLAS |      16 |         tg128 |        197.71 ± 0.81 |
  #
  # build: 3e0ba0e60 (4229)
  

llama-run

A comprehensive example for running llama.cpp models. Useful for inferencing. Used with RamaLama ³.

• Run a model with a specific prompt (by default it's pulled from Ollama registry)

  llama-run granite-code
  

llama-simple

A minimal example for implementing apps with llama.cpp. Useful for developers.

• Basic text completion

  llama-simple -m model.gguf
  
  # Hello my name is Kaitlyn and I am a 16 year old girl. I am a junior in high school and I am currently taking a class called "The Art of
  

Contributing

• Contributors can open PRs
• Collaborators can push to branches in the llama.cpp repo and merge PRs into the master branch
• Collaborators will be invited based on contributions
• Any help with managing issues, PRs and projects is very appreciated!
• See good first issues for tasks suitable for first contributions
• Read the CONTRIBUTING.md for more information
• Make sure to read this: Inference at the edge
• A bit of backstory for those who are interested: Changelog podcast

Other documentation

• main (cli)
• server
• GBNF grammars

Development documentation

• How to build
• Running on Docker
• Build on Android
• Performance troubleshooting
• GGML tips & tricks

Seminal papers and background on the models

If your issue is with model generation quality, then please at least scan the following links and papers to understand the limitations of LLaMA models. This is especially important when choosing an appropriate model size and appreciating both the significant and subtle differences between LLaMA models and ChatGPT:

• LLaMA:
  • Introducing LLaMA: A foundational, 65-billion-parameter large language model
  • LLaMA: Open and Efficient Foundation Language Models
• GPT-3
  • Language Models are Few-Shot Learners
• GPT-3.5 / InstructGPT / ChatGPT:
  • Aligning language models to follow instructions
  • Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback

References

---

1. examples/perplexity/README.md ↩︎

2. https://huggingface.co/docs/transformers/perplexity ↩︎

3. https://github.com/containers/ramalama ↩︎