AI Large Language Models

colibri

A dependency-free C engine that streams expert weights from disk to run the 744B-parameter GLM-5.2 MoE model on consumer hardware with as little as 25 GB of RAM.

What is colibri?

colibri is a lightweight, pure-C inference engine for the GLM-5.2 744B-parameter Mixture-of-Experts model. It streams expert weights from disk and requires no Python, GPU, or external dependencies at runtime, enabling local execution on a machine with ~25 GB RAM.

colibri vs Similar AI Tools

Pricing ModelFreeFreeFreeFree, Freemium
Free Credits
Key Features
  • Pure C implementation with zero external dependencies
  • Streaming of expert weights from disk, with LRU cache and optional pinned hot-store
  • Faithful GLM-5.2 (glm_moe_dsa) forward pass, validated token-exact
  • Native model loading for DeepSeek V4, Qwen3.6, and GLM 5.2
  • Adaptive Metal residency and SSD streaming for memory-constrained systems
  • HTTP server with tool calling and coding agent
  • Zero-allocation inference with Project Panama FFM API
  • Unified runtime for LLM, ASR, TTS, and multimodal models
  • Process-global backend to eliminate VRAM fragmentation
  • Unified access to 300+ AI models via one API
  • OpenAI SDK compatible endpoint
  • EU-hosted and GDPR-compliant infrastructure
Pros
  • Runs a 744B-parameter model on consumer hardware with only 25 GB RAM
  • Open source and fully transparent (C code, no dependencies)
  • Runs entirely locally, ensuring data privacy
  • Optimized for Apple Silicon with Metal acceleration
  • Zero-allocation design for high performance in Java
  • Unified API across multiple model types (text, vision, audio)
  • Access 300+ models through a single API
  • EU-hosted and GDPR-compliant, ideal for European companies
Cons
  • Very slow cold decode (0.05-0.1 tok/s on typical NVMe)
  • Requires ~370 GB disk space for the converted int4 model
  • Primarily designed for Apple Silicon; CUDA/ROCm backends are secondary
  • Not a generic GGUF runner; only supports specific models
  • Requires Java 22+ and Project Panama (not yet standard in all JVMs)
  • Build process may be complex for beginners due to native compilation
  • Pricing not fully transparent without account
  • 3% fee on credit purchases may be a hidden cost
Best For
  • Developers wanting to run massive models locally
  • AI researchers exploring MoE architectures on limited hardware
  • Apple Silicon Mac users wanting on-device LLM inference
  • Developers seeking a specialized, high-performance inference engine
  • Java developers building AI applications with low memory overhead
  • Projects needing on-premise, high-throughput inference for LLMs and multimodal models
  • Developers needing multi-model access with EU compliance
  • Teams building AI agents and applications

How to use colibri?

  1. 1Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/JustVugg/colibri.git
  2. 2Build the engine: cd c && make
  3. 3Convert the FP8 model to int4: ./coli convert --model /path/to/model
  4. 4Run chat: COLI_MODEL=/path/to/model ./coli chat
  5. 5(Optional) Use the web UI or OpenAI-compatible server for a graphical interface.

colibri Key Features

  • Pure C implementation with zero external dependencies
  • Streaming of expert weights from disk, with LRU cache and optional pinned hot-store
  • Faithful GLM-5.2 (glm_moe_dsa) forward pass, validated token-exact
  • MLA attention with compressed KV-cache (57x smaller)
  • Native MTP speculative decoding for up to 2.8 tokens per forward
  • Integer-dot kernels (int8/int4) with AVX2 acceleration
  • Online learning cache that adapts to usage patterns

colibri Use Cases

  • Running a 744B-parameter MoE model on a consumer laptop or desktop
  • Offline chat and inference without cloud dependencies
  • Research and experimentation with large MoE architectures
  • Educational demonstrations of frontier model capabilities on limited hardware

colibri Pricing & Free Credits

colibri currently operates on a Free model.

This tool is completely free to use

Open Source

Free

Apache 2.0 license. No cost for use or modification.

colibri Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Runs a 744B-parameter model on consumer hardware with only 25 GB RAM
  • Open source and fully transparent (C code, no dependencies)
  • Efficient disk streaming with caching enables long-running usage
  • Active community benchmarks and improvements

Cons

  • Very slow cold decode (0.05-0.1 tok/s on typical NVMe)
  • Requires ~370 GB disk space for the converted int4 model
  • Only supports GLM-5.2 model (no multi-model flexibility)
  • CUDA backend is experimental and limited

What is colibri best for?

  • Developers wanting to run massive models locally
  • AI researchers exploring MoE architectures on limited hardware
  • Enthusiasts interested in frontier model inference without cloud costs

colibri FAQ

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