feat(backends): add ik-llama-cpp (#9326)

* feat(backends): add ik-llama-cpp

Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* chore: add grpc e2e suite, hook to CI, update README

Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* Apply suggestion from @mudler

Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@users.noreply.github.com>

* Apply suggestion from @mudler

Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@users.noreply.github.com>

---------

Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@users.noreply.github.com>

.github/workflows/backend.yml

@@ -1945,6 +1945,19 @@ jobs:
             dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.llama-cpp"
             context: "./"
             ubuntu-version: '2404'
+          - build-type: ''
+            cuda-major-version: ""
+            cuda-minor-version: ""
+            platforms: 'linux/amd64'
+            tag-latest: 'auto'
+            tag-suffix: '-cpu-ik-llama-cpp'
+            runs-on: 'bigger-runner'
+            base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
+            skip-drivers: 'false'
+            backend: "ik-llama-cpp"
+            dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.ik-llama-cpp"
+            context: "./"
+            ubuntu-version: '2404'
           - build-type: 'cublas'
             cuda-major-version: "12"
             cuda-minor-version: "0"

.github/workflows/bump_deps.yaml

@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ jobs:
             variable: "LLAMA_VERSION"
             branch: "master"
             file: "backend/cpp/llama-cpp/Makefile"
+          - repository: "ikawrakow/ik_llama.cpp"
+            variable: "IK_LLAMA_VERSION"
+            branch: "main"
+            file: "backend/cpp/ik-llama-cpp/Makefile"
           - repository: "ggml-org/whisper.cpp"
             variable: "WHISPER_CPP_VERSION"
             branch: "master"

.github/workflows/test-extra.yml

@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ jobs:
       nemo: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.nemo }}
       voxcpm: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.voxcpm }}
       llama-cpp-quantization: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.llama-cpp-quantization }}
+      llama-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.llama-cpp }}
+      ik-llama-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.ik-llama-cpp }}
       acestep-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.acestep-cpp }}
       qwen3-tts-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.qwen3-tts-cpp }}
       voxtral: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.voxtral }}
@@ -465,6 +467,40 @@ jobs:
       - name: Test llama-cpp-quantization
         run: |
           make --jobs=5 --output-sync=target -C backend/python/llama-cpp-quantization test
+  tests-llama-cpp-grpc:
+    needs: detect-changes
+    if: needs.detect-changes.outputs.llama-cpp == 'true' || needs.detect-changes.outputs.run-all == 'true'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 90
+    steps:
+      - name: Clone
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          submodules: true
+      - name: Setup Go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version: '1.25.4'
+      - name: Build llama-cpp backend image and run gRPC e2e tests
+        run: |
+          make test-extra-backend-llama-cpp
+  tests-ik-llama-cpp-grpc:
+    needs: detect-changes
+    if: needs.detect-changes.outputs.ik-llama-cpp == 'true' || needs.detect-changes.outputs.run-all == 'true'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 90
+    steps:
+      - name: Clone
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          submodules: true
+      - name: Setup Go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version: '1.25.4'
+      - name: Build ik-llama-cpp backend image and run gRPC e2e tests
+        run: |
+          make test-extra-backend-ik-llama-cpp
   tests-acestep-cpp:
     needs: detect-changes
     if: needs.detect-changes.outputs.acestep-cpp == 'true' || needs.detect-changes.outputs.run-all == 'true'