**LocalAI** is a drop-in replacement REST API compatible with OpenAI for local CPU inferencing. It allows to run models locally or on-prem with consumer grade hardware. It is based on [llama.cpp](https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp), [gpt4all](https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all), [rwkv.cpp](https://github.com/saharNooby/rwkv.cpp) and [ggml](https://github.com/ggerganov/ggml), including support GPT4ALL-J which is licensed under Apache 2.0.
LocalAI is a community-driven project, focused on making the AI accessible to anyone. Any contribution, feedback and PR is welcome! It was initially created by [mudler](https://github.com/mudler/) at the [SpectroCloud OSS Office](https://github.com/spectrocloud).
- [Tutorial to use k8sgpt with LocalAI](https://medium.com/@tyler_97636/k8sgpt-localai-unlock-kubernetes-superpowers-for-free-584790de9b65) - excellent usecase for localAI, using AI to analyse Kubernetes clusters.
## Contribute and help
To help the project you can:
- Upvote the [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/12w4p2f/localai_openai_compatible_api_to_run_llm_models/) about LocalAI.
- If you have technological skills and want to contribute to development, have a look at the open issues. If you are new you can have a look at the [good-first-issue](https://github.com/go-skynet/LocalAI/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22) and [help-wanted](https://github.com/go-skynet/LocalAI/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22help+wanted%22) labels.
- If you don't have technological skills you can still help improving documentation or add examples or share your user-stories with our community, any help and contribution is welcome!
It is compatible with the models supported by [llama.cpp](https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp) supports also [GPT4ALL-J](https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all) and [cerebras-GPT with ggml](https://huggingface.co/lxe/Cerebras-GPT-2.7B-Alpaca-SP-ggml).
Note: You might need to convert older models to the new format, see [here](https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp#using-gpt4all) for instance to run `gpt4all`.
It should also be compatible with StableLM and GPTNeoX ggml models (untested).
### Hardware requirements
Depending on the model you are attempting to run might need more RAM or CPU resources. Check out also [here](https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp#memorydisk-requirements) for `ggml` based backends. `rwkv` is less expensive on resources.
> `LocalAI` comes by default as a container image. You can check out all the available images with corresponding tags [here](https://quay.io/repository/go-skynet/local-ai?tab=tags&tag=latest).
The easiest way to run LocalAI is by using `docker-compose`:
To see other examples on how to integrate with other projects for instance for question answering or for using it with chatbot-ui, see: [examples](https://github.com/go-skynet/LocalAI/tree/master/examples/).
The API doesn't inject a default prompt for talking to the model. You have to use a prompt similar to what's described in the standford-alpaca docs: https://github.com/tatsu-lab/stanford_alpaca#data-release.
You can use a default template for every model present in your model path, by creating a corresponding file with the `.tmpl` suffix next to your model. For instance, if the model is called `foo.bin`, you can create a sibling file, `foo.bin.tmpl` which will be used as a default prompt and can be used with alpaca:
See the [prompt-templates](https://github.com/go-skynet/LocalAI/tree/master/prompt-templates) directory in this repository for templates for some of the most popular models.
For the edit endpoint, an example template for alpaca-based models can be:
```yaml
Below is an instruction that describes a task, paired with an input that provides further context. Write a response that appropriately completes the request.
### Instruction:
{{.Instruction}}
### Input:
{{.Input}}
### Response:
```
</details>
### CLI
You can control LocalAI with command line arguments, to specify a binding address, or the number of threads.
| config-file | CONFIG_FILE | empty | Path to a LocalAI config file. |
</details>
## Setup
Currently LocalAI comes as a container image and can be used with docker or a container engine of choice. You can check out all the available images with corresponding tags [here](https://quay.io/repository/go-skynet/local-ai?tab=tags&tag=latest).
For example, to generate a chat completion, you can send a POST request to the `/v1/chat/completions` endpoint with the instruction as the request body:
Here are answers to some of the most common questions.
### How do I get models?
<details>
Most ggml-based models should work, but newer models may require additions to the API. If a model doesn't work, please feel free to open up issues. However, be cautious about downloading models from the internet and directly onto your machine, as there may be security vulnerabilities in lama.cpp or ggml that could be maliciously exploited. Some models can be found on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/models?search=ggml, or models from gpt4all should also work: https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all.
</details>
### What's the difference with Serge, or XXX?
<details>
LocalAI is a multi-model solution that doesn't focus on a specific model type (e.g., llama.cpp or alpaca.cpp), and it handles all of these internally for faster inference, easy to set up locally and deploy to Kubernetes.
</details>
### Can I use it with a Discord bot, or XXX?
<details>
Yes! If the client uses OpenAI and supports setting a different base URL to send requests to, you can use the LocalAI endpoint. This allows to use this with every application that was supposed to work with OpenAI, but without changing the application!
</details>
### Can this leverage GPUs?
<details>
Not currently, as ggml doesn't support GPUs yet: https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp/discussions/915.
There is the availability of localai-webui and chatbot-ui in the examples section and can be setup as per the instructions. However as LocalAI is an API you can already plug it into existing projects that provides are UI interfaces to OpenAI's APIs. There are several already on github, and should be compatible with LocalAI already (as it mimics the OpenAI API)
LocalAI is a community-driven project. It was initially created by [Ettore Di Giacinto](https://github.com/mudler/) at the [SpectroCloud OSS Office](https://github.com/spectrocloud).
