271 lines
9.5 KiB
Markdown
271 lines
9.5 KiB
Markdown
# CLI reference
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This page describes the commands exposed by `whichllm`. It is based on the
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Typer entrypoint in `src/whichllm/cli.py`.
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## Main command
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```bash
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whichllm [OPTIONS]
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```
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Detects the current machine, loads model and benchmark data, ranks compatible
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models, and prints a table.
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Common options:
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| Option | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| `--top`, `-n` | Number of ranked models to show. Default: `10` |
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| `--context-length`, `-c` | Context length used for KV cache estimation. Accepts integers or `k` shorthand such as `64k`. Default: `4096` |
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| `--quant`, `-q` | Keep only a quantization type such as `Q4_K_M` |
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| `--min-speed` | Keep only models above an exact tok/s estimate |
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| `--speed` | Named speed floor: `any`, `usable` (`10 tok/s`), or `fast` (`30 tok/s`) |
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| `--fit` | Runtime fit filter: `any`, `gpu`, or `full-gpu` |
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| `--gpu-only` | Alias for `--fit full-gpu`; excludes partial offload and CPU-only candidates |
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| `--profile` | Ranking profile: `general`, `coding`, `vision`, `math`, `any` |
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| `--evidence` | Benchmark evidence filter: `strict`, `base`, `any` |
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| `--direct` | Alias for `--evidence strict` |
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| `--status` | Compatibility option. Runtime columns are now shown by default |
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| `--details` | Show download metadata instead of runtime columns |
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| `--min-params` | Minimum model knowledge capacity in billions of parameters |
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| `--json` | Print machine-readable JSON |
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| `--markdown`, `-m` | Print a pasteable GitHub-Flavored Markdown table |
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| `--refresh` | Ignore caches and fetch models/benchmarks again |
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| `--cpu-only` | Ignore GPUs and rank for CPU-only use |
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| `--gpu` | Simulate GPU(s) by name. Accepts repeated flags, comma-separated values, and count shorthand |
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| `--vram` | Override simulated GPU VRAM or detected GPU usable VRAM in GB |
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| `--bandwidth`, `--ram-bandwidth` | Override GPU/RAM bandwidth in GB/s |
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| `--gpu-index` | Detected GPU index to override when multiple GPUs are present |
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| `--vram-headroom` | Reserve per-GPU memory for runtime overhead. Default: `auto`. Accepts `none`, byte values like `1.5GB`, or percentages like `10%` |
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| `--ram-budget` | Cap RAM available for partial offload. Accepts `available`, byte values like `8GB`, or percentages like `50%` |
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| `--version` | Print the installed package version |
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Environment variables:
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| Variable | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| `HF_ENDPOINT` | Hugging Face endpoint root used for whichllm's own model metadata API calls. Example: `https://huggingface.co` or a compatible mirror root |
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`--fit any` is the default. It can include full-GPU, partial-offload, and
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CPU-only candidates when they are runnable. `--fit gpu`, `--fit full-gpu`, and
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`--gpu-only` keep only rows whose `fit_type` is `full_gpu`.
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The default table shows memory required, estimated generation speed, fit type,
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and published date. Use `--details` when you want download counts instead.
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Speed colors are absolute usability hints: red is under `4 tok/s`, yellow is
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`4-10 tok/s`, green is `10-30 tok/s`, and bright green is `30+ tok/s`. The `~`
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and `?` markers still refer to estimate confidence, not speed quality.
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`--vram-headroom auto` subtracts a small budget from each GPU before fit
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checks, so near-edge recommendations are less likely to overflow in tools such
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as LM Studio. Use `--vram-headroom none` to restore the raw detected VRAM.
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`--ram-budget available` caps offload planning to current available RAM.
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For detected iGPU or unified-memory systems, use `--vram` and
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`--bandwidth` / `--ram-bandwidth` to override the automatically detected
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usable memory and bandwidth. If multiple GPUs are detected, add `--gpu-index`
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with the GPU number from `whichllm hardware`.
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Examples:
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```bash
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whichllm
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whichllm --gpu "RTX 4090"
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whichllm --gpu "RTX 5060 Ti" --vram 16
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whichllm --vram 8 --ram-bandwidth 68
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whichllm --gpu-index 1 --vram 8 --bandwidth 68
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whichllm --gpu "2x RTX 4090"
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whichllm --gpu "RTX 4090" --gpu "RTX 3090"
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whichllm --gpu "RTX 4090, RTX 3090"
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whichllm --profile coding --top 5
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whichllm --context-length 64k
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whichllm --gpu-only
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whichllm --fit gpu
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whichllm --speed usable
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whichllm --speed fast
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whichllm --min-speed 4
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whichllm --markdown
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whichllm --vram-headroom 1.5GB
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whichllm --ram-budget available
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whichllm --details
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whichllm --evidence strict
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whichllm --json | jq '.models[0]'
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```
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`--markdown` is mutually exclusive with `--json`. It prints a plain Markdown
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table without the Rich hardware panel, colors, or box-drawing characters.
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Ranking JSON model rows include:
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| Field | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| `fit_type` | Runtime fit classification: `full_gpu`, `partial_offload`, or `cpu_only` |
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| `vram_required_bytes` | Estimated runtime memory requirement for the candidate |
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| `vram_available_bytes` | GPU memory budget used for the fit check |
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| `uses_multi_gpu` | Whether the fit check used more than one GPU |
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| `multi_gpu_effective_vram_bytes` | Conservative effective VRAM budget for multi-GPU fits, when applicable |
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| `estimated_tok_per_sec` | Point estimate used by ranking |
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| `speed_confidence` | `high`, `medium`, or `low` |
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| `speed_range_tok_per_sec` | Estimated lower/upper tok/s range, when available |
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| `speed_notes` | Short reasons for the confidence level |
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| `benchmark_status` | Display marker category for benchmark evidence |
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| `benchmark_source` | How benchmark evidence was matched: `direct`, `variant`, `base_model`, `line_interp`, `self_reported`, or `none` |
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| `benchmark_confidence` | Confidence in the benchmark match, `0.0`–`1.0` |
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The top-level `hardware` object also includes `usable_vram_bytes` per GPU,
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`ram_budget_bytes`, and `budget_notes` when memory budgets are active.
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## `hardware`
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```bash
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whichllm hardware [OPTIONS]
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```
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Prints detected hardware without ranking models. The same simulation flags are
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available here:
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```bash
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whichllm hardware
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whichllm hardware --cpu-only
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whichllm hardware --gpu "Apple M3 Max"
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whichllm hardware --gpu "RTX 3060" --vram 12
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whichllm hardware --vram 8 --bandwidth 68
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whichllm hardware --gpu "4x RTX 4090"
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```
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## `plan`
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```bash
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whichllm plan MODEL_NAME [OPTIONS]
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```
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Searches for a model by HuggingFace repo ID or fuzzy terms, then estimates the
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VRAM required for several quantization levels and common GPUs.
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Options:
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| Option | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| `--context-length`, `-c` | Context length for the memory estimate. Accepts integers or `k` shorthand such as `128k`. Default: `4096` |
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| `--quant`, `-q` | Target quantization. Default: `Q4_K_M` |
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| `--json` | Print the plan as JSON |
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| `--refresh` | Ignore model cache and fetch again |
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Examples:
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```bash
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whichllm plan "llama 3 70b"
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whichllm plan "Qwen2.5-72B" --quant Q8_0
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whichllm plan "mistral 7b" --context-length 32768
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whichllm plan "mistral 7b" --context-length 32k
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```
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## `upgrade`
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```bash
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whichllm upgrade TARGET_GPUS... [OPTIONS]
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```
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Compares the current machine against one or more simulated GPUs. The CPU, RAM,
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disk, and OS come from the current machine; only the GPU changes.
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Options:
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| Option | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| `--context-length`, `-c` | Context length used for ranking. Accepts integers or `k` shorthand such as `64k`. Default: `8192` |
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| `--top`, `-n` | Best-N models to compare per GPU. Default: `3` |
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| `--profile` | Ranking profile. Default: `general` |
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| `--cpu-only` | Use CPU-only as the current baseline |
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| `--json` | Print comparison JSON |
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| `--refresh` | Ignore caches and fetch again |
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Examples:
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```bash
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whichllm upgrade "RTX 4090" "RTX 5090" "H100"
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whichllm upgrade "Apple M4 Max" --top 5
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whichllm upgrade "RX 7900 XTX" --profile coding
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whichllm upgrade "RTX 4090" --context-length 128k
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```
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## `run`
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```bash
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whichllm run [MODEL_NAME] [OPTIONS]
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```
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Creates a temporary Python script, launches it through `uv run --no-project`,
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installs the needed inference packages into that isolated run, and starts an
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interactive chat.
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If `MODEL_NAME` is omitted, whichllm ranks models for the current hardware and
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uses the top result.
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Options:
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| Option | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| `--context-length`, `-c` | Context length for the generated chat script. Accepts integers or `k` shorthand such as `64k` |
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| `--quant`, `-q` | Preferred GGUF quantization |
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| `--refresh` | Ignore model cache and fetch again |
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| `--cpu-only` | Force CPU-only execution in the generated script |
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Examples:
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```bash
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whichllm run
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whichllm run "qwen 2.5 1.5b gguf"
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whichllm run "phi 3 mini gguf" --cpu-only
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whichllm run "mistral 7b gguf" --context-length 64k
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```
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`run` requires `uv` in `PATH`.
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## `snippet`
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```bash
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whichllm snippet [MODEL_NAME] [OPTIONS]
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```
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Prints a ready-to-run Python snippet for the selected model. GGUF models use
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`llama-cpp-python`; non-GGUF models use `transformers`.
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Options:
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| Option | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| `--quant`, `-q` | Preferred GGUF quantization |
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| `--refresh` | Ignore model cache and fetch again |
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Examples:
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```bash
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whichllm snippet "qwen 7b"
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whichllm snippet "llama 3 8b gguf" --quant Q5_K_M
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```
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## Evidence filters
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`--evidence` controls which benchmark matches are allowed into the ranking.
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| Mode | Allows |
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| --- | --- |
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| `strict` | Exact independent benchmark matches only |
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| `base` | Exact, variant, and `cardData.base_model` matches |
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| `any` | All evidence levels, including line interpolation and self-reported values |
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`--direct` is kept as a shorter alias for `--evidence strict`.
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## Profiles
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The ranker detects specialization from repository names.
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| Profile | Behavior |
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| --- | --- |
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| `general` | Excludes coding, vision, and math-specialized names |
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| `coding` | Keeps coding-specialized names |
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| `vision` | Keeps vision or multimodal names and includes VLM candidates |
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| `math` | Keeps math-specialized names |
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| `any` | Keeps all recognized model types and includes VLM candidates |
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