intern

Intern

A Rust tool that binary-searches for the optimal GPU layer count (-ngl) when running llama-server with a GGUF model, then launches the server with that configuration.

How it works

Tests different -ngl values (0..255) using binary search.
For each candidate:
  Spawns llama-server with that -ngl.
  Checks if it outputs the expected response.
Narrows down the highest valid -ngl.
Spawns the final llama-server with best_fit - 1 to stay safe.

Requirements

Rust (edition 2024)
llama-server in $PATH
GGUF model(s) under ~/guff_models

Build and run

Build:
  cargo build --release

Run:
  ./target/release/intern

CLI arguments

Run with __help for full list:

-c, --ctx <CTX>
  Context size (in 1024-byte units). Default: 32.

-t, --threads <THREADS>
  Threads to pass to llama-server. Default: 32.

--port <PORT>
  Port for llama-server. Default: 11434.

--host <HOST>
  Host to bind. Default: 0.0.0.0.

-b, --batch <BATCH>
  CPU offload batch size. Default: 512.

-u, --ubatch <UBATCH>
  GPU offload batch size. Default: 256.

-v, --verbose
  Print llama-server logs instead of discarding them.

Model selection

The tool scans ~/guff_models for .gguf files.
Lists them as:
  a) model1.gguf
  b) model2.gguf
  ...
Prompts for a letter to select.

Behavior notes

During binary search:
  Each test run's stdout/stderr is discarded.
  Results are printed to stderr as:
    <ngl> [ok] or <ngl> [fail]

Final server:
  Runs until interrupted (Ctrl+C).
  Use --verbose to see its logs.

Credits

This project was built using vibecoding with Qwen 3.6 quantized (served locally), in conjunction with opencode.