LlamaCppEx

Elixir bindings for llama.cpp — run LLMs locally with Metal, CUDA, Vulkan, or CPU acceleration.

Built with C++ NIFs using fine for ergonomic resource management and elixir_make for the build system.

Features

• Load and run GGUF models directly from Elixir
• HuggingFace Hub integration — search, list, and download GGUF models
• GPU acceleration: Metal (macOS), CUDA (NVIDIA), Vulkan, or CPU
• Streaming token generation via lazy Stream
• Jinja chat templates with enable_thinking support (Qwen3, Qwen3.5, etc.)
• RAII resource management — models, contexts, and samplers are garbage collected by the BEAM
• Configurable sampling: temperature, top-k, top-p, min-p, repetition penalty, frequency & presence penalty
• Embedding generation with L2 normalization
• Grammar-constrained generation (GBNF)
• Structured output via JSON Schema (auto-converted to GBNF grammar)
• Optional Ecto schema to JSON Schema conversion
• Continuous batching server for concurrent inference
• Prefix caching — same-slot KV cache reuse for multi-turn chat (1.23x faster)
• Pluggable batching strategies — DecodeMaximal, PrefillPriority, Balanced
• Pre-tokenized API — tokenize outside the GenServer for lower contention
• Telemetry integration for observability

Installation

Add llama_cpp_ex to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:llama_cpp_ex, "~> 0.6.7"}
  ]
end

Prerequisites

• C++17 compiler (GCC, Clang, or MSVC)
• CMake 3.14+
• Git (for the llama.cpp submodule)

Backend Selection

mix compile                        # Auto-detect (Metal on macOS, CUDA if nvcc found, else CPU)
LLAMA_BACKEND=metal mix compile    # Apple Silicon GPU
LLAMA_BACKEND=cuda mix compile     # NVIDIA GPU
LLAMA_BACKEND=vulkan mix compile   # Vulkan
LLAMA_BACKEND=cpu mix compile      # CPU only

Power users can pass arbitrary CMake flags:

LLAMA_CMAKE_ARGS="-DGGML_CUDA_FORCE_CUBLAS=ON" mix compile

Quick Start

# Initialize the backend (once per application)
:ok = LlamaCppEx.init()

# Load a GGUF model (use n_gpu_layers: -1 to offload all layers to GPU)
{:ok, model} = LlamaCppEx.load_model("path/to/model.gguf", n_gpu_layers: -1)

# Generate text
{:ok, text} = LlamaCppEx.generate(model, "Once upon a time", max_tokens: 200, temp: 0.8)

# Stream tokens
model
|> LlamaCppEx.stream("Tell me a story", max_tokens: 500)
|> Enum.each(&IO.write/1)

# Chat with template
{:ok, reply} = LlamaCppEx.chat(model, [
  %{role: "system", content: "You are a helpful assistant."},
  %{role: "user", content: "What is Elixir?"}
], max_tokens: 200)

# Chat with thinking disabled (Qwen3/3.5 and similar models)
{:ok, reply} = LlamaCppEx.chat(model, [
  %{role: "user", content: "What is 2+2?"}
], max_tokens: 64, enable_thinking: false)

# Stream a chat response
model
|> LlamaCppEx.stream_chat([
  %{role: "user", content: "Explain pattern matching in Elixir."}
], max_tokens: 500)
|> Enum.each(&IO.write/1)

HuggingFace Hub

Download GGUF models directly from HuggingFace Hub. Requires the optional :req dependency:

{:req, "~> 0.5"}

# Search for GGUF models
{:ok, models} = LlamaCppEx.Hub.search("qwen3 gguf", limit: 5)

# List GGUF files in a repository
{:ok, files} = LlamaCppEx.Hub.list_gguf_files("Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF")

# Download (cached locally in ~/.cache/llama_cpp_ex/models/)
{:ok, path} = LlamaCppEx.Hub.download("Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF", "Qwen3-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf")

# Or download + load in one step
{:ok, model} = LlamaCppEx.load_model_from_hub(
  "Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF", "Qwen3-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf",
  n_gpu_layers: -1
)

For private/gated models, set HF_TOKEN or pass token: "hf_...". Set LLAMA_OFFLINE=1 for offline-only cached access.

Structured Output (JSON Schema)

Constrain model output to valid JSON matching a schema. Pass :json_schema to any generate or chat function — the schema is automatically converted to a GBNF grammar via llama.cpp's built-in converter.

schema = %{
  "type" => "object",
  "properties" => %{
    "name" => %{"type" => "string"},
    "age" => %{"type" => "integer"},
    "hobbies" => %{"type" => "array", "items" => %{"type" => "string"}}
  },
  "required" => ["name", "age", "hobbies"],
  "additionalProperties" => false
}

# Works with generate
{:ok, json} = LlamaCppEx.generate(model, "Generate a person:",
  json_schema: schema, temp: 0.0)
# => "{\"name\": \"Alice\", \"age\": 30, \"hobbies\": [\"reading\", \"hiking\"]}"

# Works with chat
{:ok, json} = LlamaCppEx.chat(model, [
  %{role: "user", content: "Generate a person named Bob who is 25."}
], json_schema: schema, temp: 0.0)

# Works with streaming
model
|> LlamaCppEx.stream("Generate a person:", json_schema: schema, temp: 0.0)
|> Enum.each(&IO.write/1)

# Works with chat completions
{:ok, completion} = LlamaCppEx.chat_completion(model, [
  %{role: "user", content: "Generate a person."}
], json_schema: schema, temp: 0.0)

Tip: Set "additionalProperties" => false in your schema to produce a tighter grammar that avoids potential issues with the grammar sampler.

Manual Grammar Conversion

You can also convert the schema to GBNF manually for more control:

{:ok, gbnf} = LlamaCppEx.Grammar.from_json_schema(schema)
IO.puts(gbnf)
# root ::= "{" space name-kv "," space age-kv "," space hobbies-kv "}" space
# ...

# Use the grammar directly
{:ok, json} = LlamaCppEx.generate(model, "Generate a person:", grammar: gbnf, temp: 0.0)

Ecto Schema Integration

Convert Ecto schema modules to JSON Schema automatically (requires {:ecto, "~> 3.0"} — optional dependency):

defmodule MyApp.Person do
  use Ecto.Schema

  embedded_schema do
    field :name, :string
    field :age, :integer
    field :active, :boolean
    field :tags, {:array, :string}
  end
end

# Ecto schema -> JSON Schema -> constrained generation
schema = LlamaCppEx.Schema.to_json_schema(MyApp.Person)
# => %{"type" => "object", "properties" => %{"name" => %{"type" => "string"}, ...}, ...}

{:ok, json} = LlamaCppEx.chat(model, [
  %{role: "user", content: "Generate a person."}
], json_schema: schema, temp: 0.0)

Supported Ecto types: :string, :integer, :float, :decimal, :boolean, :map, {:array, inner}, :date, :utc_datetime, :naive_datetime, and embedded schemas (embeds_one/embeds_many). Fields :id, :inserted_at, and :updated_at are excluded automatically.

Lower-level API

For fine-grained control over the inference pipeline:

# Tokenize
{:ok, tokens} = LlamaCppEx.Tokenizer.encode(model, "Hello world")
{:ok, text} = LlamaCppEx.Tokenizer.decode(model, tokens)

# Create context and sampler separately
{:ok, ctx} = LlamaCppEx.Context.create(model, n_ctx: 4096)
{:ok, sampler} = LlamaCppEx.Sampler.create(model, temp: 0.7, top_p: 0.9)

# Run generation with your own context
{:ok, tokens} = LlamaCppEx.Tokenizer.encode(model, "The answer is")
{:ok, text} = LlamaCppEx.Context.generate(ctx, sampler, tokens, max_tokens: 100)

# Model introspection
LlamaCppEx.Model.desc(model)          # "llama 7B Q4_K - Medium"
LlamaCppEx.Model.n_params(model)      # 6_738_415_616
LlamaCppEx.Model.chat_template(model) # "<|im_start|>..."
LlamaCppEx.Tokenizer.vocab_size(model) # 32000

Server (Continuous Batching)

For concurrent inference, LlamaCppEx.Server manages a shared model/context with a slot pool and continuous batching:

{:ok, server} = LlamaCppEx.Server.start_link(
  model_path: "model.gguf",
  n_gpu_layers: -1,
  n_parallel: 4,
  n_ctx: 8192
)

# Synchronous
{:ok, text} = LlamaCppEx.Server.generate(server, "Once upon a time", max_tokens: 100)

# Streaming
LlamaCppEx.Server.stream(server, "Tell me a story", max_tokens: 200)
|> Enum.each(&IO.write/1)

Multiple callers are batched into a single forward pass per tick, improving throughput under load.

Prefix Caching

The server caches KV state between requests on the same slot. Multi-turn chat benefits automatically — the system prompt and prior turns aren't recomputed:

{:ok, server} = LlamaCppEx.Server.start_link(
  model_path: "model.gguf",
  n_parallel: 4,
  cache_prompt: true  # opt-in (default: false)
)

Benchmark: 1.23x faster for multi-turn conversations (487ms vs 597ms per 4-turn exchange).

Batching Strategies

Choose how the token budget is split between generation and prompt processing:

# Default: generation latency optimized
batch_strategy: LlamaCppEx.Server.Strategy.DecodeMaximal

# Throughput optimized (batch processing)
batch_strategy: LlamaCppEx.Server.Strategy.PrefillPriority

# Fair split (mixed workloads)
batch_strategy: LlamaCppEx.Server.Strategy.Balanced

Pre-Tokenized API

Tokenize outside the GenServer to reduce contention under concurrent load:

model = LlamaCppEx.Server.get_model(server)
{:ok, tokens} = LlamaCppEx.Tokenizer.encode(model, prompt)
{:ok, text} = LlamaCppEx.Server.generate_tokens(server, tokens, max_tokens: 100)

See Performance Guide for detailed tuning advice.

Benchmarks

Measured on Apple M4 Max (64 GB), Metal backend (n_gpu_layers: -1).

Single-model generation speed

Single-sequence generation (Qwen3-4B Q4_K_M)

Continuous batching throughput (Qwen3-4B Q4_K_M)

max_tokens: 32, prompt: "short"
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Concurrency  Wall time    Total tok/s  Per-req tok/s  Speedup  Avg batch
1            318ms        100.6        100.6          1.00x    1.1
2            440ms        145.5         72.7          1.45x    2.2
4            824ms        155.3         38.8          1.54x    4.5

Run benchmarks yourself:

MIX_ENV=bench mix deps.get
LLAMA_MODEL_PATH=path/to/model.gguf MIX_ENV=bench mix run bench/single_generate.exs
LLAMA_MODEL_PATH=path/to/model.gguf MIX_ENV=bench mix run bench/server_concurrent.exs

Running Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is a Mixture-of-Experts model with 35B total parameters but only 3B active per token. It supports 256K context and both thinking (CoT) and non-thinking modes.

Hardware requirements

Download

# Install the HuggingFace CLI if needed: pip install huggingface-hub
huggingface-cli download Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-GGUF Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-Q4_K_M.gguf --local-dir models/

Thinking mode (general)

:ok = LlamaCppEx.init()
{:ok, model} = LlamaCppEx.load_model("models/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-Q4_K_M.gguf", n_gpu_layers: -1)

# Qwen3.5 recommended: temp 1.0, top_p 0.95, top_k 20, presence_penalty 1.5
{:ok, reply} = LlamaCppEx.chat(model, [
  %{role: "user", content: "Explain the birthday paradox."}
], max_tokens: 2048, temp: 1.0, top_p: 0.95, top_k: 20, min_p: 0.0, penalty_present: 1.5)

Thinking mode (math/code)

# For math and code, lower temperature without presence penalty
{:ok, reply} = LlamaCppEx.chat(model, [
  %{role: "user", content: "Write a function to find the longest palindromic substring."}
], max_tokens: 4096, temp: 0.6, top_p: 0.95, top_k: 20, min_p: 0.0)

Non-thinking mode

# Disable thinking via enable_thinking option (uses Jinja chat template kwargs)
{:ok, reply} = LlamaCppEx.chat(model, [
  %{role: "user", content: "What is the capital of France?"}
], max_tokens: 256, enable_thinking: false, temp: 0.7, top_p: 0.8, top_k: 20, min_p: 0.0, penalty_present: 1.5)

Streaming with Server

{:ok, server} = LlamaCppEx.Server.start_link(
  model_path: "models/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-Q4_K_M.gguf",
  n_gpu_layers: -1,
  n_parallel: 2,
  n_ctx: 16384,
  temp: 1.0, top_p: 0.95, top_k: 20, min_p: 0.0, penalty_present: 1.5
)

LlamaCppEx.Server.stream(server, "Explain monads in simple terms", max_tokens: 1024)
|> Enum.each(&IO.write/1)

Qwen3.5 enable_thinking benchmarks

Measured on MacBook Pro, Apple M4 Max (16-core, 64 GB), Metal backend, n_gpu_layers: -1, 512 output tokens, temp: 0.6.

The MoE model (35B-A3B) is ~3.2x faster at generation since only 3B parameters are active per token despite the 35B total. Thinking mode only affects the prompt template, not inference speed.

Examples

The examples/ directory contains runnable scripts demonstrating key features:

# Basic text generation
LLAMA_MODEL_PATH=/path/to/model.gguf mix run examples/basic_generation.exs

# Streaming tokens to terminal
LLAMA_MODEL_PATH=/path/to/model.gguf mix run examples/streaming.exs

# Interactive multi-turn chat
LLAMA_MODEL_PATH=/path/to/model.gguf mix run examples/chat.exs

# JSON Schema constrained generation + Ecto integration
LLAMA_MODEL_PATH=/path/to/model.gguf mix run examples/structured_output.exs

# Embedding generation and cosine similarity
LLAMA_EMBEDDING_MODEL_PATH=/path/to/embedding-model.gguf mix run examples/embeddings.exs

# Continuous batching server with concurrent requests
LLAMA_MODEL_PATH=/path/to/model.gguf mix run examples/server.exs

Architecture

Elixir API (lib/)
    │
LlamaCppEx.NIF (@on_load, stubs)
    │
C++ NIF layer (c_src/) — fine.hpp for RAII + type encoding
    │
llama.cpp static libs (vendor/llama.cpp, built via CMake)
    │
Hardware (CPU / Metal / CUDA / Vulkan)

License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.

llama.cpp is licensed under the MIT License.