---
title: Run a model fully offline
weight: 3
extra:
  summary: "Point the embedded engine at a folder of GGUF files and run a model in-process — no server, no key, no network."
---

You'll set up the **embedded** provider so a model runs entirely on your device
from local files — no API key, no base URL, no network call.

## What you need

- A GGUF model file (or several) already downloaded to the device. BYLM never
  ships a model; you bring the file.
- Enough device memory and storage for the model you pick.
- On Android, the files in a folder you can grant the app access to.

## Steps

1. Open **Providers** and add a provider of kind **Local llama.cpp (embedded)**.
   It has no base URL and no API key.

![The embedded provider's form — a models-folder field and a compute backend (Vulkan), with no base URL or key](/images/provider_embedded.png)

2. Set the **Models directory** to the folder holding your `.gguf` files. On
   desktop, browse to the folder. On Android, grant a folder through the system
   file picker. The folder is scanned and each model file becomes selectable.

3. Optionally choose the **Compute backend** — _Auto_ lets the engine decide, or
   set CPU or Vulkan explicitly (ROCm as well, on Linux). It's saved per device
   and applied the next time a model loads.

4. Optionally cap **Decode threads** for CPU generation; leave it empty for an
   automatic count.

5. Create an agent, choose this provider, and pick one of the scanned models.
   Start a conversation — generation runs in-process, on your hardware, with
   nothing leaving the device.

## Make it yours

- **Keep an embedded agent beside a hosted one.** Because you choose the provider
  per agent, the same app can hold a private local agent and a frontier hosted
  agent side by side.
- **Swap backends to trade speed for compatibility** — Vulkan (or ROCm on Linux)
  to use the GPU, CPU as the safe fallback.