R interface to llama.cpp for running local inference of large language models (LLMs) directly from R.
The package supports GPU acceleration via Vulkan, and automatically falls back to CPU when no GPU is available.
llama_load_model, llama_free_model)llama_new_context,
llama_free_context)llama_tokenize, llama_detokenize,
llama_generate)llama_gen_begin,
llama_gen_next, llama_gen_end)llama_serve_openai) — connect OpenCode, ellmer, the
openai SDK, etc.Chat objects backed by local models
(chat_llamar) — use the ellmer/ragnar toolchain against
local inferencellama_embeddings), batch
(llama_embed_batch), ragnar-compatible
(embed_llamar)llama_hf_download, llama_load_model_hf,
etc.)llama_encodellama_load_model(devices = ...))llama_numa_init)The package uses ggmlR as the low-level backend. If ggmlR was built with Vulkan support enabled, llamaR automatically uses the GPU for computation. On systems without a GPU, all code runs on CPU with no additional configuration required.
Vulkan support is compiled entirely within ggmlR — llamaR does not
compile any Vulkan code itself. However, since llamaR links against
libggml.a (from ggmlR) using --whole-archive,
the Vulkan symbols (e.g. vkCmdCopyBuffer,
vkGetInstanceProcAddr) need to be resolved at link
time.
The llamaR configure script handles this automatically:
- Linux: checks pkg-config --exists vulkan
and adds -lvulkan to the linker flags -
Windows: checks for the VULKAN_SDK
environment variable and adds -lvulkan-1
If Vulkan is not found on the system, the build proceeds without it —
the Vulkan backend in libggml.a will simply remain unused,
and inference runs on CPU only.
Measured on AMD Ryzen 5 5600 + AMD RX 9070, model Ministral-3-3B-Instruct-2512-Q8_0, 50 tokens, avg of 3 runs:
| Backend | Speed (tokens/sec) | Speedup |
|---|---|---|
| CPU (8 threads) | 8.5 | 1.0x |
| GPU (Vulkan) | 108.0 | 12.7x |
Requires ggmlR >= 0.5.4:
# Install ggmlR first
remotes::install_github("Zabis13/ggmlR")
# Then llamaR
remotes::install_github("Zabis13/llamaR")library(llamaR)
# Load model
model <- llama_load_model("path/to/model.gguf")
# Create context
ctx <- llama_new_context(model, n_ctx = 2048L, n_threads = 8L)
# Generate text
result <- llama_generate(ctx, "Once upon a time", max_new_tokens = 100L)
cat(result)
# Free resources (optional, GC handles this automatically)
llama_free_context(ctx)
llama_free_model(model)Two guides walk through the package in depth:
chat_llamar(), the
OpenAI-compatible server, connecting OpenCode/ellmer, and
retrieval-augmented chat with ragnar.browseVignettes("llamaR")
vignette("getting-started", package = "llamaR")
vignette("chat-and-agents", package = "llamaR")Download GGUF models directly from Hugging Face with automatic caching:
library(llamaR)
# List available GGUF files in a repository
files <- llama_hf_list("TheBloke/Llama-2-7B-GGUF")
print(files)
# Download a specific quantization
path <- llama_hf_download("TheBloke/Llama-2-7B-GGUF", pattern = "*q4_k_m*")
# Or download and load in one step
model <- llama_load_model_hf("TheBloke/Llama-2-7B-GGUF",
pattern = "*q4_k_m*",
n_gpu_layers = -1L)
# Manage cache
llama_hf_cache_info()
llama_hf_cache_clear()For private repositories, set the HF_TOKEN environment
variable or pass token directly.
# CPU only
model <- llama_load_model("model.gguf")
# With GPU acceleration (all layers)
model <- llama_load_model("model.gguf", n_gpu_layers = -1L)
# Partial GPU offload (first 20 layers)
model <- llama_load_model("model.gguf", n_gpu_layers = 20L)
# Explicit device selection (see llama_backend_devices())
model <- llama_load_model("model.gguf", n_gpu_layers = -1L, devices = "Vulkan0")
# Check GPU availability
if (llama_supports_gpu()) {
message("GPU available")
}info <- llama_model_info(model)
cat("Model:", info$desc, "\n")
cat("Layers:", info$n_layer, "\n")
cat("Context:", info$n_ctx_train, "\n")
cat("Embedding size:", info$n_embd, "\n")ctx <- llama_new_context(model, n_ctx = 4096L)
# Basic generation
result <- llama_generate(ctx, "The meaning of life is")
# Greedy decoding (deterministic)
result <- llama_generate(ctx, "2 + 2 =", temp = 0)
# Creative output
result <- llama_generate(ctx,
prompt = "Write a haiku about R:",
max_new_tokens = 50L,
temp = 1.0,
top_p = 0.95,
top_k = 40L
)model <- llama_load_model("llama-3.2-instruct.gguf", n_gpu_layers = -1L)
ctx <- llama_new_context(model)
# Get template from model
tmpl <- llama_chat_template(model)
# Build conversation
messages <- list(
list(role = "system", content = "You are a helpful assistant."),
list(role = "user", content = "What is R?")
)
# Apply template
prompt <- llama_chat_apply_template(messages, template = tmpl)
# Generate response
response <- llama_generate(ctx, prompt, max_new_tokens = 200L)
cat(response)Pull tokens one at a time instead of waiting for the full result —
useful for live output or feeding a stream. Concatenating every chunk
reproduces the llama_generate() result for the same
seed.
st <- llama_gen_begin(ctx, "Once upon a time", max_new_tokens = 100L)
repeat {
chunk <- llama_gen_next(st) # next piece of text, or NULL when done
if (is.null(chunk)) break
cat(chunk)
}
cat(llama_gen_end(st)) # flush any held-back trailing bytesServe a local model over an OpenAI-compatible HTTP API so any OpenAI
client can talk to it. Requires the optional drogonR
package (install.packages("drogonR")).
# Blocks, serving GET /v1/models and POST /v1/chat/completions
# (both blocking and stream = true). Default port 11434.
llama_serve_openai("model.gguf", port = 11434L)Point any OpenAI client at http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1,
e.g.:
curl http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1/chat/completions \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"model":"model","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'A runnable example lives at
inst/examples/serve_openai.R:
# Just serve: args are <model.gguf> [port] [n_ctx]
Rscript inst/examples/serve_openai.R model.gguf 11434 16384
# Or self-test both endpoints end-to-end (needs callr + curl):
Rscript inst/examples/serve_openai.R model.gguf --selftestTo connect OpenCode, add an
OpenAI-compatible provider in opencode.json (see the one in
this repo) pointing baseURL at
http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1, with the model id matching what
/v1/models reports.
chat_llamar() returns an ellmer Chat object
backed by a local model, so the whole ellmer / ragnar toolchain works
against local inference. Requires the optional ellmer
package (and callr when spawning a server).
# Spawn a server for this model and chat with it; the background process is
# tied to the returned object (stop it with chat_llamar_stop(), or let GC).
chat <- chat_llamar(model_path = "model.gguf")
chat$chat("Why is the sky blue?")
chat_llamar_stop(chat)
# Or connect to a server you already started with llama_serve_openai():
chat <- chat_llamar(base_url = "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1")
chat$chat("Hello!")It wraps ellmer::chat_vllm(), talking to the server’s
/v1/chat/completions endpoint.
# Text -> tokens
tokens <- llama_tokenize(ctx, "Hello, world!")
# Tokens -> text
text <- llama_detokenize(ctx, tokens)# Single text embedding
emb1 <- llama_embeddings(ctx, "machine learning")
emb2 <- llama_embeddings(ctx, "artificial intelligence")
# Cosine similarity
similarity <- sum(emb1 * emb2) / (sqrt(sum(emb1^2)) * sqrt(sum(emb2^2)))
cat("Similarity:", similarity, "\n")
# Batch embeddings (matrix output)
ctx <- llama_new_context(model, n_ctx = 512L, embedding = TRUE)
mat <- llama_embed_batch(ctx, c("hello world", "foo bar", "test"))
# mat is a 3 x n_embd matrixUse embed_llamar() as an embedding provider for ragnar:
library(ragnar)
# Create store with local embedding model
store <- ragnar_store_create(
"my_store",
embed = embed_llamar(
model = "nomic-embed-text-v1.5.Q8_0.gguf",
n_gpu_layers = -1,
embedding = TRUE
)
)
# Insert and retrieve documents as usual
ragnar_store_insert(store, documents)
ragnar_retrieve(store, "search query")# List available devices
llama_backend_devices()
#> name description type
#> 1 CPU CPU (threads: 16) cpu
#> 2 Vulkan0 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 gpu
# Load model on specific device
model <- llama_load_model("model.gguf", n_gpu_layers = -1, devices = "Vulkan0")
# CPU-only (even if GPU is available)
model <- llama_load_model("model.gguf", devices = "cpu")
# Multi-GPU split
model <- llama_load_model("model.gguf", n_gpu_layers = -1,
devices = c("Vulkan0", "Vulkan1"))model <- llama_load_model("base-model.gguf")
ctx <- llama_new_context(model)
# Load and apply adapter
lora <- llama_lora_load(model, "fine-tuned.gguf")
llama_lora_apply(ctx, lora, scale = 1.0)
# Generate with LoRA
result <- llama_generate(ctx, "prompt")
# Remove all LoRA adapters
llama_lora_clear(ctx)# Levels: 0 = silent, 1 = errors only, 2 = normal, 3 = verbose
llama_set_verbosity(0) # Suppress all output
llama_set_verbosity(3) # Debug modeSupports all llama.cpp compatible architectures (100+), including:
Models must be in GGUF format. Convert models using llama.cpp tools.
MIT
Yuri Baramykov