llama-cpp

Files (4)

• SKILL.md
• optimization.md · references/
• quantization.md · references/
• server.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# llama.cpp

Pure C/C++ LLM inference with minimal dependencies, optimized for CPUs and non-NVIDIA hardware.

## When to use llama.cpp

**Use llama.cpp when:**
- Running on CPU-only machines
- Deploying on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
- Using AMD or Intel GPUs (no CUDA)
- Edge deployment (Raspberry Pi, embedded systems)
- Need simple deployment without Docker/Python

**Use TensorRT-LLM instead when:**
- Have NVIDIA GPUs (A100/H100)
- Need maximum throughput (100K+ tok/s)
- Running in datacenter with CUDA

**Use vLLM instead when:**
- Have NVIDIA GPUs
- Need Python-first API
- Want PagedAttention

## Quick start

### Installation

```bash
# macOS/Linux
brew install llama.cpp

# Or build from source
git clone https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp
cd llama.cpp
make

# With Metal (Apple Silicon)
make LLAMA_METAL=1

# With CUDA (NVIDIA)
make LLAMA_CUDA=1

# With ROCm (AMD)
make LLAMA_HIP=1
```

### Download model

```bash
# Download from HuggingFace (GGUF format)
huggingface-cli download \
    TheBloke/Llama-2-7B-Chat-GGUF \
    llama-2-7b-chat.Q4_K_M.gguf \
    --local-dir models/

# Or convert from HuggingFace
python convert_hf_to_gguf.py models/llama-2-7b-chat/
```

### Run inference

```bash
# Simple chat
./llama-cli \
    -m models/llama-2-7b-chat.Q4_K_M.gguf \
    -p "Explain quantum computing" \
    -n 256  # Max tokens

# Interactive chat
./llama-cli \
    -m models/llama-2-7b-chat.Q4_K_M.gguf \
    --interactive
```

### Server mode

```bash
# Start OpenAI-compatible server
./llama-server \
    -m models/llama-2-7b-chat.Q4_K_M.gguf \
    --host 0.0.0.0 \
    --port 8080 \
    -ngl 32  # Offload 32 layers to GPU

# Client request
curl http://localhost:8080/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "llama-2-7b-chat",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
    "temperature": 0.7,
    "max_tokens": 100
  }'
```

## Quantization formats

### GGUF format overview

| Format | Bits | Size (7B) | Speed | Quality | Use Case |
|--------|------|-----------|-------|---------|----------|
| **Q4_K_M** | 4.5 | 4.1 GB | Fast | Good | **Recommended default** |
| Q4_K_S | 4.3 | 3.9 GB | Faster | Lower | Speed critical |
| Q5_K_M | 5.5 | 4.8 GB | Medium | Better | Quality critical |
| Q6_K | 6.5 | 5.5 GB | Slower | Best | Maximum quality |
| Q8_0 | 8.0 | 7.0 GB | Slow | Excellent | Minimal degradation |
| Q2_K | 2.5 | 2.7 GB | Fastest | Poor | Testing only |

### Choosing quantization

```bash
# General use (balanced)
Q4_K_M  # 4-bit, medium quality

# Maximum speed (more degradation)
Q2_K or Q3_K_M

# Maximum quality (slower)
Q6_K or Q8_0

From Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, MIT.

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