Files
LocalAI/.agents/adding-backends.md
T
mudler-agentandEttore Di Giacinto f1ff707b97 feat(addons): list and install backends from a library (#12816)
* feat(addons): add the add-on runtime, navigation and first-party add-ons

Add the add-on runtime to LocalAI: manifests, the host operation broker,
admin gating by account role, the add-on UI bundle builder and the SDK
for add-on pages. Move the navigation to Chat, Models, Add-ons and
Settings, with pinned add-ons in the sidebar and an Add-ons drawer.

Ship the first-party add-ons (voice, face, fine-tuning, quantization) as
packages for linux/amd64, linux/arm64 and darwin/arm64. Intel macOS
(darwin/amd64) is enabled in the platform files.

Squashed from the review branch. The tree is unchanged; the pre-squash
history is kept on a local backup branch.

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

* fix(gosec): tighten file modes and annotate false positives

Write job state, configs and imported models with mode 0600, clean
the paths that are read from disk, and mark the route tables, the
header name and the retry jitter as reviewed false positives.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 gosec
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): keep API keys off recovery mutations and same-site cookies

POST /api/addons/dispatch forwarded the recovery and update
mutations to the owner for any administrator key, which skipped the
browser-session rule of their own routes. Refuse those actions
there. Also apply the same-origin rule to the legacy token cookie,
not only the session cookie, because the global CSRF check lets
same-site requests through.

Do not fail the start of LocalAI when an add-on library cannot be
refreshed; log it and keep the installed add-ons up.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): refuse a reinstall that would migrate retained data unbacked

An upgrade takes a verified backup before the new package migrates
the data. A reinstall over retained data has no running generation
to stop, so the new package would migrate it without one. Refuse a
reinstall whose data format differs from the retained one.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): release the manager lock while a release is fetched

Submit held the state lock across the catalog lookup and the package
download, so the apps list and status reads stalled for the whole
install. Serialize Submit and Reconcile with their own lock and drop
the state lock around the fetch only.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): kill an add-on only after three missed health probes

One slow 100 ms probe killed a busy add-on and dropped the work it
was serving. Require three misses in a row.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): move settings under the operate hub

The Operate hub already has Settings as a tab, so the sidebar no longer shows a separate Settings entry. The /app/settings route stays, and the hub tab still reaches it. The navigation test now expects Chat, Models and Add-ons as the primary items.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): accept same-host browser requests that carry no fetch metadata

Browsers do not send Sec-Fetch-* headers over plain HTTP on an address
that is not localhost, so every add-on request from a LAN address was
refused as cross-site. Keep refusing a Sec-Fetch-Site value other than
same-origin. When the header is absent, accept the request only if its
Origin, or failing that its Referer, names the same host and port as
the request.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(ui): show the server's reason when an add-on request is refused

A 403 or 400 answer showed a generic message and hid the reason in the
response body, so a refusal by the browser guard could not be told from
a missing permission. Show error.message from the body as the server
sent it, and keep the generic text when the body has none.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): run the add-on owner in the normal binary

The owner was only enabled when an embedding host set the add-on config,
so a normal run answered every add-on request as unavailable.

Add --addons-enabled (default true) and --addons-ownership-mode
(default named-user, or local-owner; anything else stops startup).
The node is its own owner: state lives under the data path, and the
carrier uses loopback keys made at each start and kept in memory.
--addons-enabled=false turns the owner off completely.

Named-user mode needs the account database. With authentication off
the owner stays off and a warning says how to use local-owner.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): keep the loopback owner address stable across restarts

The single-node loopback transport took a new ephemeral port at each
start. The owner stores its address in its identity file and refuses to
start when the address differs, so every start after the first failed
with "invalid addon owner configuration".

Choose the port once, keep it in the add-on state root (loopback-port,
mode 0600) and reuse it. If the port is taken at a later start, stop
with an error that names the port and --addons-enabled=false, because
another port would break the identity check. The keys and certificate
stay in memory.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): let add-on pages keep the host modules they were written against

A page written for the web UI imports React, the router, i18next and a
few shared components. The add-on builder refuses a bundle that holds a
host file, so moving such a page into an add-on meant rewriting it.

Add a compat mode to the shared builder. It answers those imports from a
directory of stand-ins that read the SDK, bundles the dynamic import of
the page code into the one output file, and collects the style sheets the
page imports. A relative import that is not in the add-on's own source
resolves to the file at the same path under the compat directory.

Widen the SDK for these pages, without a version change: more host
components (spinner, modal, lightbox, model picker) and hooks (models,
resources, voice profiles, operations, MCP client), a style on icons,
the icon names the pages draw, sdk.navigation.openApp to open a page of
the app (only addresses under /app, and the way back as the only state)
and sdk.portal. The shell passes the query string to the page.

The stand-ins cover the router (the tab in the path, the model in the
query), the translator over the host locale files, the core API calls
through sdk.core.fetch, and byte copies of the pure helpers, with tests
that keep the copies equal to the originals.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): ship Studio and Talk as add-ons instead of built-in pages

Studio and Talk were compiled into the web bundle and always listed in
the Add-ons drawer. They are add-ons now, like Voice, Face, fine-tuning
and quantization: a person installs and removes them, the drawer lists
them only while they are installed, and they are packaged the same way.

Move the pages, their components, hooks and helpers into addons/studio
and addons/talk. Each has a manifest, a UI bundle, a release platform
matrix and a catalog template, and is built by the compat mode of the
shared builder. The core API stays where it is: the pages call it with
the signed-in person's session. The history keeps its browser storage
keys. The unit tests of the moved helpers move with them.

In the core, drop the two pages, the Create group of the sidebar (Chat
joins Home and Models in the old layout), the built-in catalog entries
(the catalog is empty) and the talk locale namespace. The old addresses
(/app/studio, /app/talk and the generator links) redirect to the add-on
pages, with the model as ?model=. The Home /studio command is offered
only while the Studio add-on is installed and opens it.

The release workflow and its tests now list seven add-ons.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): run the Studio and Talk specs against the add-on bundles

The pages are add-ons now, so a spec that draws one installs the real
built bundle first: the apps list names it and its module and style
sheet are served from the build output, the way the add-on owner serves
them. studio-addon.js holds that helper, and the Studio and Talk
fixtures call it.

Update the specs for the new addresses (/app/addons/studio/studio, the
model as ?model=), the session permission the add-on route needs, the
legacy redirects, the Home /studio command that appears only while the
add-on is installed, and the sidebar without a Create group.

Add specs for the add-ons themselves: every tab draws with no script
error, the shell titles the page once, the old addresses say so when the
add-on is not installed, a button of the page reaches a core page with
the way back, and the drawer lists both only after they are installed.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(ui): centre the icon of a built-in tile in its icon box

The drawer drew the icon of a built-in tile (Studio's palette was one)
in a bare 40px box. Only the placeholder box was laid out as a centred
grid with the 20px size, so the real icon sat in the top-left corner at
the size of the page text.

Give the built-in tile the same classes as the placeholder box, and
check in a browser that the icon is centred.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* docs(addons): describe Studio and Talk as add-ons

Replace the built-in list (now empty) with the Studio and Talk add-on
sections, the new targets of the old links, the Home command, and the
seven packaged add-ons. Describe the SDK additions the pages use:
components, hooks, icons, openApp and portal. Say on the Studio page
that it is installed from the drawer.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): click the shell title in the Studio slash-key spec

The add-on shell titles the page, and the Studio overview no longer draws
a second title, but the generator tabs keep theirs, so a bare h1 locator
matched two elements. Click the first, which is the shell's.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): read the loopback port file through os.Root

The persisted port file was read with a path built from the add-on
root, which gosec reports as a file inclusion through a variable. Open
it through os.Root so the name cannot leave the root, even by a
symbolic link, and require a regular file with no group or other
access. A looser file now fails closed instead of being trusted.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): expect Settings under the Operate hub, not the sidebar

Settings moved out of the sidebar into the Operate hub. The navigation
spec still expected a sidebar link. Assert that the sidebar has no
Settings entry, and that the Operate hub opens Settings as a tab.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): drop Settings from the 404 places

Settings is a tab of the Operate hub and not a destination of its own,
so the 404 page does not list it. Assert that it is absent.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): drive the media history and TTS specs through the Studio add-on

The image, video, sound and speech generators are pages of the Studio
add-on now, and the old addresses redirect to it. Install the add-on
with the Studio fixtures, open its pages and use its compose card, so
the specs run against the page that exists.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): count the first-run steps, not every list item

The recommended models are a list inside the second step, so counting
all list items read 3 only while the models were still loading. Count
the step elements, which does not depend on the load order.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): fail the node refresh by state, not by call count

The spec served the list to the first request and failed the rest. The
first request is not always the one from the page, so the page could
get the failure first and show no list. Serve the list until the page
shows it, then fail the refreshes.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): default to local-owner when auth is off

A server without authentication has no accounts, so named-user left
the add-on owner off. Resolve the unset mode in one place: local-owner
when authentication is off, named-user when it is on. A flag or
environment value still wins, and an unknown value is still refused.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): register an official add-on library by default

Add gallery/addons/index.yaml, a YAML index of the four first-party
add-ons (fine-tuning, quantization, voice, face) in the library format.
The entries come from addonpkg catalog over locally built linux/amd64
packages, so the digests pin those images.

On the first start, when the owner has no sources.json, register the
raw GitHub URL of that index on master as the "official" library and
write the file. The file is then the record: a library the admin
removes stays removed, and an existing file is never changed.
--addons-official-library=false skips the default.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* docs(addons): document the ownership default and the official library

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): list Studio and Talk in the first-party index

Add the Studio and Talk entries to gallery/addons/index.yaml next to
the four existing ones. They come from addonpkg catalog over locally
built linux/amd64 packages, so the digests pin those images.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): expect Studio and Talk in the official index

The official index now lists six add-ons. Update the test that
decodes it so it accepts Studio and Talk.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): add a real icon to each first-party add-on

Each icon is a 256 by 256 PNG: a rounded square in one colour of the
UI kit palette with a white outline glyph from the kit sprite. Fine-tuning
uses sliders, quantization layers, voice waveform, face user, studio
palette, talk phone and tables database. They were rendered with headless
Chrome from the sprite paths.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 chrome
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): ship a committed icon.png instead of the generated square

The shared UI builder and the Tables builder copy ui/icon.png from the
add-on source tree to the package unchanged when the file exists. They
write the generated placeholder only when it does not. Add a fixture with
an icon and a test for both cases.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): list the tables add-on in the first-party index

Add the Tables entry to gallery/addons/index.yaml next to the six
existing ones. It comes from addonpkg catalog over a locally built
linux/amd64 package, so the digest pins that image. The official index
test now expects seven add-ons.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): make the Voice add-on one page with tabs

The Voice add-on had four pages: recognition, library, create and
speech, and the drawer listed two of them. It now has one page, "voice",
and one drawer entry. Recognition, Library, Text to speech and From a
recording are tabs of that page, drawn with the same tab strip the
recognition page already used. The tab is the first path segment
(voice/library), as in the Studio add-on, and the form that adds a voice
is a view of the Library tab (voice/library/new).

The old page names stay declared in the manifest. Each one redirects to
its tab and keeps the query string, so saved links still open.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): send the old voice routes to the Voice tabs

/app/voice, /app/voice-library and /app/voice-library/new now open the
matching tab of the Voice add-on page while the add-on is installed and
running, and the core pages otherwise. The moved-page helper compares
the first segment of the target with the declared pages, so a target
can name a tab. The docs and the navigation spec list the new addresses.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): cover the Voice tabs and the old page redirects

The add-on unit tests render the tabs instead of the four pages. The
Playwright spec checks the tab strip, the address of each tab, the
missing Library tab for a member, and that the old page addresses of the
add-on redirect to their tab with the query string kept. The migration
table test follows the new targets.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(studio): keep the model menu inside a narrow screen

The Home model picker sizes its menu from the viewport, and assumes the
picker sits at the page gutter. In the Studio composer card the field is
further in, so on a 390px screen the menu of the Sound expansion picker
ended 7px past the right edge. Size the menu from the field it opens
under instead.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): build the add-on bundles once for the whole run

Each worker built the Studio and Talk bundles into the same dist
directory, and the build empties that directory first. A worker that
started, or restarted after a failure, removed the files another worker
was serving, so a Studio spec saw "the style sheet of the add-on could
not be loaded". Build once in a global setup before the workers start.
A run without the setup still builds per worker.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): register the worker when the add-node spec says so

The mocked roster added the worker on the third read of /api/nodes. The
shell and the page both read it, and which one asks first depends on
load, so the page could take the new worker as part of the roster it
opened with and never show it as found. The worker now joins after the
page shows it is listening.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): hold the gallery answer until the skeleton is seen

The spec delayed the answer by a fixed 800 ms and then looked for the
skeleton. The assertion polls at growing intervals, so on a slow machine
it could step over that window. The answer now waits until the skeleton
has been seen, and the spec then checks that the skeleton goes away.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): give the PDF tag the time the other PDF specs have

pdf.js and its worker load on first use. The other specs in this file
wait up to ten seconds for the result of that load. The first one waited
five, and missed the tag on a busy machine.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): build the Face and Fine-tuning bundles in the global setup

The navigation spec serves the built Fine-tuning bundle, but nothing
built it, so two specs failed on a fresh checkout when the dist folder
was missing. The spec also built the Face bundle in a hook that every
worker runs, and a build rewrites the folder the other workers serve.

The global setup now builds Studio, Talk, Face and Fine-tuning once,
before the workers start. The spec builds the two bundles itself only
when it runs without the global setup.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): fix the Home answers in the stale pin spec

The spec asserts that the page shows no alert. The Home page raises its
own alert when the model list fails or a staging operation has failed,
and both answers come from the shared test server. A slow reply or a
failed install left there counted as an alert about the pin.

The spec now fixes both answers, so the alert count tells only about the
pin. The assertions are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): read the server address in the add-node spec from the page

The spec expected the register address to carry port 8089, so it failed
on any other port. It now expects the origin the page was opened from.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): give the navigation routes spec its own catalog

No page is built in today, so the catalog is empty and the three specs
that expect the studio and talk entries failed on the list and on the
pin seed. They passed only while Studio and Talk were built in.

The spec now sets a catalog of two ungated entries for each example and
restores the old one afterwards. The assertions are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(cli): report a failed write of the MLX hostfile

The tunnel callback ignored the error of os.WriteFile and set the
hostfile variable even when the file was not written. It now logs the
error and leaves the variable alone.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): discard the close error of the held listener

errcheck flags the deferred Close of the listener that keeps the port
busy. The test has no use for that error, so the defer drops it
explicitly.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): move the add-on tool tests to Ginkgo

The fine-tuning, quantization and add-on host library tests used
t.Errorf, t.Fatal and t.Run, which the forbidigo rule rejects. They now
use Describe, It and Gomega, with a suite bootstrap in each package. The
cases and the assertions are the same.

The tables in the host client and the tool schema tests keep one entry
per case.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): move the host operation tests to Ginkgo

The hostops tests used the testing package calls that forbidigo rejects.
They now run as Ginkgo specs under one suite bootstrap. Every check and
every per-operation case is kept.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): move the pin store tests to Ginkgo

The pin service, file store, sweep and shared store contract tests used
the testing package calls that forbidigo rejects. The store contract is
now a function that registers its specs for each store, so the file
store, the memory-only store and the database store run the same cases.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): move the remaining add-on tests to Ginkgo

The built-in catalog, tool arguments, loopback carrier, host operation
contract, packaging, application, config, CLI and endpoint tests used
the testing package calls that forbidigo rejects. They now run as Ginkgo
specs. The endpoint tests also drop the unchecked Close errors that
errcheck reports when the auth tag is on.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): wait for the targeted Reinstall button before the install click

The "generic deletion blocks targeted install at confirmation" spec
dispatches a popstate to set the target node, then clicks Reinstall with
a script click. The click can run before the targeted page has rendered
or while the button is still disabled, so no install request is sent and
the poll on the install count times out. It failed 1 run in 10 with two
workers and on every retry in CI.

The spec now waits for the button to be enabled first. The assertions
are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* chore(addons): refresh the voice package digest in the first-party index

The Voice add-on became one page with tabs and got a new icon, so the
digest in gallery/addons/index.yaml no longer matched the build. Render
the entry again with addonpkg catalog over a locally built linux/amd64
package; the main page is now voice. The other entries are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): wait for the target node's Reinstall button after the popstate

The "generic deletion blocks targeted install at confirmation" spec
dispatches a popstate to set the target node, then waits for a button
named Reinstall and clicks it. Until React renders the targeted page,
the page still draws the generic Reinstall button. It is enabled and has
the same name, so the wait passed on it, the click started a global
install, and no node install request was sent. The poll on the install
count timed out with the confirm dialog still open.

With the CPU throttled to 8x, the spec failed on 20 of 20 runs, and the
button it clicked had the title "Reinstall". The spec now waits for the
button titled "Reinstall on <node>". With the throttle it passes 30 of
30 runs. The assertions are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): give the Studio hand-off spec a budget for the cold bundle load

The "a result made through a hand-off records which result it came from"
spec opens the Studio add-on straight from an address, twice. Each is a
cold load: the page shows "Loading" until the add-on module has run, and
the next assertion had the default five seconds. The load takes about
two seconds on an idle run and seven to ten under CPU load, so the spec
failed on a loaded machine with the hand-off note not yet drawn.

With the CPU throttled to 6x and eight busy loops running, it failed on
21 of 30 runs. The first assertion after each load now waits up to 20
seconds, and the spec then passed 30 of 30 under the same load. The
assertions are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): carry the identity page styles in the Face add-on

The Face page is drawn with the shared identity views, but its style sheet
held only the clip and error rules. The page, card, model list, known-faces
table, enrol sheet and distance scale classes had no rules. They looked
right only when the host had already loaded the style sheet of its own
Faces page, which a visit through the add-on drawer does not do. Opened
that way, the cards had no gap, the model list showed bullets, and the
install buttons ran into the names.

The Face sheet now holds the same identity rules as the core sheet, so the
page looks the same whichever way it is opened.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): scope the narrow-screen identity rules of the Voice add-on

The rules for narrow screens (single-column pairs, smaller tool padding,
compact rank rows) were copied into the Voice style sheet without their
media query, so they applied at every width. They now sit in a
max-width 720px query, and the reduced-motion rule in its own query, as in
the core sheet.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): drop the repeated title from the Voice and Face pages

The add-on shell already titles the page, so the recognition pages showed the name twice: "Voice" above "Voices", "Face" above "Faces". Keep the supporting line and the model picker, as the Studio page does, and remove the unused title strings.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): replace the Pinned sidebar section with an Apps entry

The sidebar no longer lists pinned add-ons. It shows one Apps entry that
opens the add-ons drawer, with a Show all link below it that opens the
same drawer. Pins are used from the drawer, where a pinned tile keeps
its pin and move buttons. The server pins API is unchanged.

Remove the PinnedNav component and its locale title, rename the
items.addons label to Apps, and update the e2e specs and the add-ons
documentation to match.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): assert the single shell title on the Voice and Face pages

The add-on shell now shows the one title, "Voice" or "Face", and the page no longer repeats it. The tests still looked for the h1 "Voices" and "Faces". Assert that the add-on page has exactly one h1 and that it is the shell title. The core pages keep their own "Voices" and "Faces" titles.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): drop the repeated title from the Voice Library and Text to speech pages

The add-on shell already titles the page "Voice", so these two tabs showed a second heading below it ("Speech voices", "Speak text"). Keep the supporting line, as the Studio and recognition pages do, and remove the unused title strings. The e2e spec now checks that each tab has exactly one h1, the shell title.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): list pinned apps under Apps in the sidebar

A pinned app now shows as an indented child of the Apps entry, with its icon and title, in pin order. Show all stays the last child. The pins come from GET /api/addons/pins through the navigation context, and the apps from the add-on registry, which the drawer feeds on every list read, so the links follow the drawer. A pin without an installed app is not drawn, nothing extra shows when no app is pinned, and the children are hidden when the sidebar is collapsed to the rail.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* docs(addons): say that pinned apps are listed under Apps in the sidebar

The sidebar lists the pinned apps between Apps and Show all, in pin order. The pins section and the navigation section said that pins do not appear in the sidebar.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(ui): remove the Show all link under Apps in the sidebar

The link repeated the Apps entry, which opens the same drawer, and looked redundant when no app was pinned. Apps is now the only add-on entry; pinned apps still list under it in pin order. The link, its locale key and the style comment are gone, and the e2e spec and the add-ons docs now say that Apps is the only entry.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): show a first-run card on Apps when nothing is installed

An administrator who opens Apps with no add-on installed now sees a
short card with three steps: choose a library, browse and install,
start the add-on. Its button opens the Browse tab. The card is hidden
once an add-on is installed and for anyone who cannot install.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(ui): hide the pinned apps in the icon rail

When the window is narrower than 1024 px the sidebar shrinks to the icon rail by CSS alone, without the collapsed class. The pinned app links were still drawn there, with the indent meant for the full sidebar, so their icons sat to the right of the rail and were cut off. Hide the pinned app links in both rail states. The Apps entry keeps its centred icon. The e2e spec checks that the rail shows no pinned app and that every icon is centred at 1280 px collapsed and at 1000 px.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(ui): stop the backend redirect test racing the installed list

The test reads the redirected URL right after the path changes. The
Backends page then loads the installed list and drops a selected backend
that is not installed, so the backend parameter was sometimes already gone
when the test read it. The mock server has no llama-cpp, and about 15 of
40 repeated runs failed on the backend assertion. The redirect itself was
correct, including show_all.

Serve the selected backend in the installed list, so the page keeps the
selection and the assertions stay as strict as before.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): accept a same-host Referer or Origin for human confirmation

Browsers send no Sec-Fetch-* headers over plain HTTP on an address that
is not localhost, so creating a resource from a LAN address failed with
"Creating a resource requires your own browser session".

When Sec-Fetch-Site is present it must still be same-origin with an
empty destination, as before. When it is absent, Origin or, failing
that, Referer must name the request host and port. A destination or
mode that is present must still be the expected one. This matches the
rule in BrowserProtection. The credential, token cookie, API key and
tool-context checks are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(ui): keep hub entries off the Apps route in the sidebar

The Build hub still owned /app/addons through its legacy Add-ons tab,
so the sidebar lit both Apps and Build on the Apps page. A tab whose
gate is closed now owns no route when the sidebar asks, so only the
Apps entry is active there. The hubs keep their own routes, and the
legacy navigation still gives /app/addons to the Build hub.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): label the pin control on app tiles and in the detail view

The pin was a small icon-only button and hard to find. Each app tile now
shows a button reading Pin, or Pinned with a filled pin, and the detail
view has the same control in its header. Both toggle the same stored pin.

The Apps grid lists pinned apps first, in pin order, then the others.
The sidebar list and the server pins API are unchanged.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(addons): check the Voice From a recording tab has one title

The Library and Text to speech tabs already assert that the add-on shell
title is the only h1. Do the same for the From a recording tab, so a
heading added there later fails the navigation spec.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(ui): stop the add-on shell drawing a title over add-on pages

The app decides what its page shows. The shell drew the add-on name as a
header above every add-on page, so an add-on could not choose its own
title. The shell now draws no header on a live, loading or frozen
add-on page; each add-on titles its own pages. The unavailable and
missing-page states keep the name, because no add-on page is drawn there.

The runtime and shell specs now check that the shell adds no page title.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(addons): let each add-on draw its own page title

The shell no longer titles add-on pages, so each add-on draws one h1 per
page. Voice titles its tabs "Voices" (Recognition and From a recording),
"Speech voices" (Library) and "Speak text" (Text to speech); "Add a speech
voice" already had its own. Face draws "Faces", Studio "Studio" and Talk
"Talk". Tables promotes the database list and database name from h2 to h1.
Fine-tuning and Quantization already drew a title.

The add-on unit tests and the navigation and Studio specs now assert
exactly one h1 per page, with the page's own title.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): add a kind to library entries and read unknown kinds tolerantly

A library entry now has an optional kind: addon (the default when it is
absent), backend or model. Every index written before kinds existed stays
valid and its entries are add-ons.

A reader keeps the entries of the kinds it knows and skips the others
without reading their fields, so a newer kind never makes an older host
refuse the whole index. The refresh result and the library state report
how many entries were skipped and of which kinds, and the refresh logs a
warning. A kind that is not a plain kind name still makes the index
malformed. Search lists add-ons unless the caller asks for a kind, and
Resolve returns add-ons only, so an add-on install cannot be pointed at
a backend image.

A library policy may name the signer with an anchored identityRegex
instead of an exact identity, so builds from master and from tags both
verify. An add-on install refuses a policy that carries one.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(backends): install a backend from a library entry

A library can now list backends. An entry of kind backend names the
image of the backend gallery by digest, and POST /backends/library/install
installs it on the local node. The gallery stays the source of truth and
its install path is the one used: the library resolves the entry, takes
the signature policy from the library, pins the image by digest and calls
the same install as the gallery. Installing a name that came from a
gallery, another library or by hand is refused and changes nothing.

The signature policy of a backend library names the signer with an
anchored identityRegex, so images signed by the merge workflow on master
and on tags both verify. A pattern that is not anchored is refused.

An install is bounded by a size limit per kind: add-ons keep 512 MiB and
a backend image defaults to 8 GiB, set with --addons-backend-max-bytes.
The limit reads the manifest after the signature check and before any
layer is fetched. The metadata of an installed backend records the
library it came from.

scripts/backends/cmd/backendcatalog renders entries from
backend/index.yaml and pins them against the registry. The pilot is the
CPU build of local-store, in gallery/backends/index.yaml. The library is
registered on the first start only with --addons-backend-library, which
is off by default.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): show the kind of library entries and install backends from them

The Browse tab lists the entries of every kind this host reads and marks
each one as an add-on or a backend. A backend installs through the
backend route and not through the add-on lifecycle: the confirmation
says that the backend gallery is not changed and that a backend runs
native code, and a refusal of the host, such as a name installed from
another origin, is shown with its own reason. The details give the kind,
the alias and the signer pattern.

The library editor can name the signer with a pattern. Without this a
save would drop the pattern of a backend library. The Libraries tab
reports the entries a refresh skipped because their kind is not read.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* docs(addons): describe backends in the library

Document the entry kinds, how a reader skips a kind it does not know,
the backend entry format, the signer identity pattern, the install
route, the size limit of each kind, the pilot library and the command
that renders it. The backend page links to it.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(mcp): install a backend from a library entry

The backend library route installs a backend from an add-on library
entry, and the admin REST surface and the MCP catalog must stay in step.
Add the install_library_backend tool with an in-process and an HTTP
client, the route map entry, the safety-rule listing and a skill recipe.

Listing library entries stays on the add-on routes, which the assistant
does not expose, so no list tool is added.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(ui): carry the add-on library keys in every locale

The add-on library and backend library strings existed only in English,
so the other locales had no value for them. Add the missing keys of the
addons namespace to de, es, id, it, ko, pt-BR and zh-CN. The values are
the English text until a translation is contributed.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(backends): report the steps of a library install as a job

A backend install from a library ran inside the request and showed
nothing until it ended. It is now a job of the gallery service, the
kind the backend gallery installs use. The request answers with the job
ID and GET /backends/jobs/{id} reports the step as the phase of the job:
resolving, verifying, size, fetching and writing, with the byte progress
of the fetch. A job that fails keeps the phase of the step that failed
and gives the reason. A second install of the same name is refused while
one runs.

The downloader and the gallery install report their stages through an
optional hook, so the steps are the real ones and not a guess. The
Browse tab lists the steps of the entry being installed, marks the one
that failed, and omits the signature step for a library that does not
require one.

The library installer also gets Updates and a route that lists the
installed library backends with a newer build in their library, for the
next change.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): mark library backends and offer their updates on the Backends page

A backend installed from a library now shows the library ID next to its
name and, in the detail, the library and the digest that metadata.json
pinned. Gallery backends look and behave as before, and the gallery
reinstall is not offered for a library backend, because the gallery does
not list it.

When the cached index of the library lists another build in the channel
of the installed version, the row says "Update available" and offers an
Update button. The button starts the same install as the Browse tab, and
the detail shows its steps. Nothing is upgraded on its own. The check
says nothing when the library no longer lists the installed version and
has several channels, instead of guessing one.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(mcp): match the library installer to the progress type

The MCP install of a library backend was written against the earlier
Install signature. The job-based install now takes a Progress value,
so the application did not build. The MCP interface drops its unused
status callback and the application adapts the installer to it.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(gallery): add the model library entry shape and its reader

A model library entry is the shared library envelope (kind, id, name,
version, description, license, urls, tags, icon, channel, policy,
schemaVersion) plus a model body: url, backend, size, files,
configFile, overrides, variants and promptTemplates. The envelope lives
in the catalog package so the other kinds can move to it.

A gallery entry converts to a library entry and back to the same
gallery entry. Floats are written so they read back as floats, and an
empty variants list stays distinct from an absent one, because both
occur in the real index.

The reader is strict: unknown fields, duplicate ids, a second document
and a flow-style list are refused. An entry of another kind is skipped
and reported, as in the add-on reader. The gallery index stays the
default and is not changed.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(gallery): render the model library from the model gallery

scripts/models/cmd/modelcatalog reads gallery/index.yaml with the same
structs the host reads it with, converts every entry to a library entry
and back, and fails if any entry does not come back equal. It writes
gallery/models/index.yaml and the golden files for the tests. The
output is deterministic, and the gallery is only read.

The golden files are a digest pair for every entry (the gallery entry
and the library entry made from it) and a readable gallery and library
pair for each kind of entry: plain, with variants, with an empty
variants list, with a config file, with a size, with a backend, with
floats in the overrides, without a url, without files and with a
multiline description.

All 2212 entries of the index round trip. The gallery struct does not
read a few keys (last_checked, parameters and four stray capitalised
keys); the host drops them when it loads the index, so the library does
not carry them, and the command reports them.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(gallery): add --model-index-source to read the model library

--model-index-source selects the file the host reads the models of the
official gallery from: gallery (the default) or library. With library
the gallery named localai reads the model library, from
--model-library-url or the file in the repository, and keeps its
configured name and URL on every entry. A gallery the owner added keeps
its own index, and add-on and backend galleries never take this path. A
library that cannot be fetched or read is an error and not a fall back
to the gallery, so the setting is never silent.

The tests round trip every entry of the real gallery index, compare it
with the golden files, check the rendered library file reads and agrees
with itself, and cover the strict reader, the kinds it skips, prompt
templates, number types, empty lists and the setting.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(backends): upgrade library backends with the auto-upgrade switch

The upgrade checker now installs the newer build of a library backend
when auto_upgrade_backends is on, on the same check that upgrades the
gallery backends. With the switch off nothing is installed and the
Update button stays manual. The switch is read on every check, so a
change in the runtime settings applies at the next one. There is no
second toggle.

The tests cover both states and a host without a library.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(cli): add local-ai library to manage library sources

local-ai library has list, add, remove, enable and disable. It works on
the source store the server reads (addons/sources.json under the data
path), so it also works with the server stopped. A source has a kind
(addon, backend or model); the store records whether it is a shipped
default, and removing a default leaves a tombstone so it does not come
back at the next start.

The shipped model and backend gallery indexes are default sources next
to the official add-on library. Defaults are added at every start when
they have no record yet, and an existing file that holds no default is
left alone as before.

The --model-index-source and --model-library-url flags are removed: a
model library is added as a model source, and the gallery entry says it
is a library.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(addons): let a source of your own win an entry over a default

When two enabled sources list the same entry (same kind and id), the
source the user added wins over a shipped default, and the default is
ignored for that entry. When two sources the user added list it, search
and resolve are refused with an error that names the entry and both
sources, and nothing is picked silently. Among shipped defaults nothing
changes.

The tests cover a user source over a default, a tie between two user
sources, a default ignored once a user source wins, and the case where
disabling a source ends the conflict.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(cli): map the gallery flags to library sources at startup

--galleries and --backend-galleries keep loading the same JSON. At
startup each entry they name also becomes a source the user owns, of
kind model or backend, so local-ai library list shows it. The mapping is
additive: an entry whose kind and URL is already a source (a shipped
default, one added with the CLI, or one mapped at an earlier start) is
not added twice, and a derived id never collides with another source.

The sources then decide which galleries the server reads: a gallery
whose source is disabled or removed is left out, and a model library or
gallery added with local-ai library add is added. A list set by the flags
still replaces the shipped defaults. If the store cannot be opened, the
galleries stay as the flags set them. The autoload switches are not
touched.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* refactor(library): use id for every kind and seed the default libraries

The backend entries of the library used addonId while the model
entries use id. Release now has the field ID, written as id for every
kind. ReadIndex reads addonId as a legacy alias for one release, for
add-ons and backends, and refuses an entry that holds both names. The
backend index and the catalog generator write id.

The shipped libraries are default sources. The pilot backend library is
now on by default, like the official add-on library, and the model
library is a new default model source, official-models. The server
reads it next to the localai gallery. A source the user removed stays
removed, and a source the user adds is added to the defaults.

The model catalog header held a backtick that ended its raw string, so
the generator did not build. The header no longer has it.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go node playwright
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(library): choose the default model source by build

A build read both the localai gallery and the official-models library
by default, so every model was listed twice. Now a build reads one of
them. library.ModelSource names it: "library" or "gallery". The model
source that is not chosen is still shipped, as a disabled default, and
local-ai library enable turns it on.

The value is a Go variable set at link time with -ldflags, because the
same source tree makes both kinds of build and a constant would need a
commit to change. It is "library" in the source, so a build from
master, go build and go test read the library. Only the exact value
"gallery" selects the gallery, so a mistyped value cannot leave a build
without a model source.

The Makefile sets it from LOCALAI_MODEL_SOURCE. When that is not set, a
commit that carries a tag gets "gallery" and any other commit gets
"library". .goreleaser.yaml passes the same variable and defaults to
"gallery". The release workflow sets it to "library" on a tag, which is
the cutover.

A default source is seeded once, so a data directory that an earlier
build seeded keeps its enabled flags. Switch it with local-ai library
enable and disable.

Tests assert the master default, the tagged default before the cutover
and after it, and that a mistyped value reads the library. The model
library header now says that CI checks it and when a build reads it.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go node
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* ci(library): check the model library and cut over on tag

No workflow checked gallery/models/index.yaml, so it could go stale
when gallery/index.yaml changed. A new workflow, model-library.yml, runs
on pull requests and on master when the gallery, the library, the
generator or core/gallery change. It runs the generator tests and the
library shape tests (the file decodes, it has the library shape, every
real entry round trips), then renders the library again from
gallery/index.yaml and fails on any difference with git diff
--exit-code. The error message gives the command that fixes it.

release.yaml gets the cutover. On a tag, a step sets
LOCALAI_MODEL_SOURCE=library before GoReleaser runs, and
.goreleaser.yaml links it into the binary. Without that step a tagged
build reads the gallery. The step is the one place to remove when the
gallery is retired.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(library): make the model library the source of the gallery

The library, gallery/models/index.yaml, was rendered from the gallery.
Now it is the source and models are edited there. modelcatalog reads
the library and writes gallery/index.yaml, a generated copy that stays
only so releases before the cutover keep working.

The gallery file is written in the shape the host reads: the same
field order, floats such as 1.0 keep their form, and an empty variants
list stays apart from an absent one. The command converts every
library entry to a gallery entry and back, loads its own output the way
the host does, and fails when an entry comes back different.

The gallery copy drops what the library cannot carry: last_checked,
parameters and four capitalised keys (Base Model, Context Length,
License, Training Data). The gallery struct has no field for any of
them, so the host ignored them on load. Every run lists these keys and
how often the file being replaced still had each. Loading the old and
the new gallery with the host structs gives equal entries for all
2212 models.

The tests that read the library and the golden files follow in the
next commit.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* ci(library): check the library and that the gallery is its copy

The model-library workflow assumed the gallery was the source. It now
checks the library file, the new source. The library decodes, every
entry has the library shape, every entry converts to a gallery entry
and back, and the gallery reader loads the generated gallery and sees
the same names, file uris and digests. The workflow then generates
gallery/index.yaml again and fails on any diff with git diff
--exit-code. The message says the file is generated, not to edit it by
hand, and gives the command that regenerates it.

The tests in core/gallery read the library file now. The round trip
runs library to gallery and back on all 2212 real entries, a new test
compares the checked-in gallery with the generated copy so go test finds
a hand edit too, and the golden digests and samples are written from
the library. The version of an entry is no longer compared with a digest
of its content, since an edit to the library does not change it.

The docs say the library is the source, the gallery file is a generated
copy for releases before the cutover, and edits go to the library. The
agent guide for adding models says the same.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(library): add admin routes for library sources and an official libraries switch

The library sources of the add-on, backend and model kinds had a CLI
but no HTTP routes. Add them for administrators, on the same store and
the same functions as `local-ai library`, so the two cannot drift:

  GET    /api/library/sources
  POST   /api/library/sources
  POST   /api/library/sources/{id}/enable
  POST   /api/library/sources/{id}/disable
  DELETE /api/library/sources/{id}

The list carries kind, default, removed (a tombstone), suspended and the
conflict message of a source that clashes with another one. A change to
a model or backend source applies to the running server. A deleted
source drops its gallery by address; a removed default keeps its record.

Add the runtime setting official_libraries (default on), with the flag
--official-libraries. When it is off, every shipped default source of
the three kinds is suspended: it is not read, stays in the store marked
default, and comes back when the setting is on again. Sources the user
added are not affected.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): list library sources of all three kinds in the Libraries tab

The Libraries tab of the Add-ons page now lists the sources of the
add-on, backend and model kinds from the new library routes. It has a
kind filter with counts, a Default badge, the state of each source
(enabled, disabled, removed, or off while the official libraries are
off), turn on and off, a Restore button for a removed default, and the
conflict message next to a source that clashes. Adding a source takes a
kind and, for backends and models, an index format.

Settings gets the toggle "Use official libraries" for the
official_libraries setting.

Add unit tests for the list and the kind filter, and a Playwright spec
that runs on a fresh test server started with --library-sources (its own
config, port 8097): it lists the three kinds, adds a model source,
disables and removes a default, checks the conflict message and the
official libraries toggle.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 javascript
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(library): extend the backend body to carry what the gallery carries

The backend library entry only held an image and its digest. The backend
gallery holds more that matters at install and in the UI, so the library
could not replace it. Add the missing fields to the backend kind and keep
the strict reader.

New fields, all refused on an add-on entry:

- mirrors: ordered fallback images of the same backend, each oci://.
  The install pins them with the digest of the artifact.
- capabilities: a map from a host capability to a backend id. An entry
  with capabilities and no artifact is a meta backend. It has no digest,
  os or arch, is listed for every platform, and installing it installs the
  backend its capability names, in the same library and channel.
- license, urls, tags: display metadata, bounded and checked as text.
- icon: an https URL. The add-on ui.icon stays a path in the package. The
  host never fetches the icon.
- mutable: the artifact is a moving tag, such as a development image. The
  entry has no digest. The install resolves the tag to a digest, verifies
  that image and records the digest it installed.
- schemaVersion: the envelope version. A higher one is refused.

The index bounds grow to 8 MiB and 4000 entries, because the backend
library lists every image for every platform. Release now holds lists, so
the add-on staging compares it with Equal instead of ==.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(library): render the backend library from the whole backend gallery

Add the conversion between a gallery backend and its library entries in
core/gallery, and make scripts/backends/cmd/backendcatalog build the
library from the gallery and the gallery from the library.

The library now holds all 1093 gallery entries as 1088 backends, because
five names appear twice in the gallery with the same content and are
folded. That is 934 concrete backends and 154 meta backends, written as
1240 entries: a backend built for several platforms has one entry for
each, with the digest of that platform image.

- 539 release entries are pinned by the digest the registry serves for the
  platform.
- 543 development entries (master-* tags) keep their tag and are mutable.
  The install pins them.
- 4 release entries are not pinned, because the registry has no image for
  them: cpu-qdrant-store, metal-qdrant-store, cpu-gemxcpp and
  vulkan-gemxcpp. They are marked mutable and no digest is invented.
  Render them again with --repin once the images exist.

The generator can import a gallery once, pin the release images again, and
write the gallery file from the library without the network. Before it
writes it converts every backend to the library and back and fails if one
does not come back equal. A policy is no longer written on each entry,
because the host takes the policy of the library source.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* test(library): check that every backend gallery entry round trips

Prove that the backend library can replace the backend gallery. The golden
input is the real backend gallery from before the library became the
source: 1093 entries, kept under core/gallery/testdata/backend_library
with the pins the library holds and the digest of each generated entry.

TestBackendLibraryRoundTripsEveryRealGalleryEntry converts each entry to
library entries, writes them as an index, reads them as a host does,
validates them and converts them back. It asserts that all 1093 entries
come back equal on every field the gallery reader uses, and logs the
count. The five names that appear twice in the gallery have the same
content, so the twin is checked against the first one and folded.

The other tests check the library file in the repository: every entry
passes the host checks, every backend round trips, every meta backend
names concrete backends the library has, a development entry keeps its
master-* tag and has no digest, and the golden digests still match. Unit
tests cover each field, the fields the library cannot carry, which are
refused rather than dropped, and entries of one backend that disagree.

An entry with no artifact, digest, os or arch no longer writes them as
empty strings, so a meta backend and a mutable entry stay short.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(library): make the backend library the source of the backend gallery

Flip the source the way the model library did. The backend library,
gallery/backends/index.yaml, is where backends are edited. The backend
gallery, backend/index.yaml, is now generated from it by
scripts/backends/cmd/backendcatalog and stays only so releases before the
cutover keep working. It no longer has anchors or hand-written order, and
it holds 1088 backends: the five names that were listed twice with the same
content are folded.

Which source a build reads is set at build time, like the model source:

- core/library.BackendSource is "library" or "gallery". Only the exact value
  "gallery" selects the gallery, so a mistyped value cannot leave a build
  with no backend source.
- A build from master reads the library. The Makefile reads the gallery for
  a commit that carries a tag (LOCALAI_BACKEND_SOURCE), and GoReleaser
  defaults to the gallery.
- A step in release.yaml sets LOCALAI_BACKEND_SOURCE=library, so a tagged
  build cuts over by itself.
- Both sources are shipped and one is enabled. With
  --addons-backend-library=false every build reads the gallery.

The server hands the shipped backend library to the gallery reader as a
library, so the Backends page lists it and installs from it the way it did
from the gallery. A backend library the user adds stays with the add-on
catalog. The shipped library is now a backend source, not an add-on one.

The new workflow backend-library.yml runs the tests, regenerates
backend/index.yaml and fails on a diff. It never reads the registry.
backendcatalog --add merges backends written in the gallery shape into the
library, so adding a backend does not mean writing platform entries by
hand; the agent guide says so.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5 go
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* docs(library): describe the backend library as the source of the backends

Rewrite the backends and add-ons pages for the backend library. The library
file is the source of truth and the backend gallery is a generated copy that
is never edited by hand.

- backends.md: the library and the generated gallery, which source a build
  reads (master, tagged before the cutover, tagged after it), the
  --addons-backend-library switch, how to add a backend and generate the
  gallery, and what CI checks.
- addons.md: the full backend entry with the new fields (mirrors,
  capabilities, license, urls, tags, icon URL, mutable, schemaVersion),
  meta backends, development images pinned at install, and the backend
  library section in place of the pilot one.
- compatibility-table.md: point to the library as the source.

Assisted-by: Claude Code:claude-sonnet-5-5
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(library): mirrors on library sources, editable through the API

Library sources carry an optional list of mirrors. The mirrors go into the
gallery entries the server reads, and a source can be edited with
PUT /api/library/sources/:id. The mirror forms accepted are http(s),
github:, oci:// and file://, at most eight per source.

Sources saved before this change load without mirrors.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-haiku-5-5 [Claude Code]
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): library chips on the model and backend pages

The model and backend pages manage their own library sources. Filter
chips above the list narrow it to one library, and a panel adds, edits,
turns on or off, refreshes and removes sources of that kind. The add-on
Libraries tab lists add-on sources only.

Settings shows the model and backend galleries as a read-only view of
the library sources, with their mirrors. Mirrors are edited in the panel.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-haiku-5-5 [Claude Code]
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* feat(ui): show the library chips when a kind has one library

The chips were hidden until a page had two libraries, so a single library
had no visible filter. The row now shows whenever a page has a library.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-haiku-5-5 [Claude Code]
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* docs(gallery): state the mirror rule and the cutover for the old index

The library no longer has no mirrors: a source can list them, so the note
now says that the shipped official-models library has none. The mirror
section says that clearing a source's mirrors waits for a restart. The
cutover section says the old gallery file is removed in the cutover
release.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-haiku-5-5 [Claude Code]
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

* fix(gosec): tighten the modes the catalog generators write

The generators wrote generated files and sample folders with 0644 and
0755. The generated index copies are tracked by git, which keeps only the
executable bit, so the tracked files do not change. Local copies get
0600 and 0750. The library path read in mergeLibrary is the operator's
own argument, so that read is annotated.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-haiku-5-5 [Claude Code]
Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>

---------

Signed-off-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>
Co-authored-by: Ettore Di Giacinto <mudler@localai.io>
2026-10-23 01:00:07 +02:00

29 KiB
Raw Blame History

Adding a New Backend

When adding a new backend to LocalAI, you need to update several files to ensure the backend is properly built, tested, and registered. Here's a step-by-step guide based on the pattern used for adding backends like moonshine:

1. Create Backend Directory Structure

Create the backend directory under the appropriate location:

  • Python backends: backend/python/<backend-name>/
  • Go backends: backend/go/<backend-name>/
  • C++ backends: backend/cpp/<backend-name>/
  • Rust backends: backend/rust/<backend-name>/

For Python backends, you'll typically need:

  • backend.py - Main gRPC server implementation
  • Makefile - Build configuration
  • install.sh - Installation script for dependencies
  • protogen.sh - Protocol buffer generation script
  • requirements.txt - Python dependencies
  • run.sh - Runtime script
  • test.py / test.sh - Test files

For Rust backends, you'll typically need (see backend/rust/kokoros/ as a reference):

  • Cargo.toml - Crate manifest; depend on the upstream project as a submodule under sources/
  • build.rs - Invokes tonic_build to generate gRPC stubs from backend/backend.proto (use the BACKEND_PROTO_PATH env var so the Makefile can inject the canonical copy)
  • src/ - The gRPC server implementation (implement Backend via tonic)
  • Makefile - Copies backend.proto into the crate, runs cargo build --release, then package.sh
  • package.sh - Uses ldd to bundle the binary's dynamic deps and ld.so into package/lib/
  • run.sh - Sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH/SSL_CERT_DIR and execs the binary via the bundled lib/ld.so
  • sources/<UpstreamProject>/ - Git submodule with the upstream Rust crate

2. Add Build Configurations to .github/backend-matrix.yml

The build matrix is data-only YAML at .github/backend-matrix.yml (not inside backend.yml itself). backend.yml (master push) and backend_pr.yml (PR) load it via scripts/changed-backends.js, which also handles per-file path filtering so only touched backends rebuild on PRs and master pushes alike. Add build matrix entries to .github/backend-matrix.yml for each platform/GPU type you want to support. Look at similar backends for reference — chatterbox/faster-whisper for Python, piper/silero-vad for Go, kokoros for Rust.

Without an entry here no image is ever built or pushed, and the library entry in gallery/backends/index.yaml will point at a tag that does not exist. The dockerfile: field must point at ./backend/Dockerfile.<lang> matching the language bucket from step 1 (e.g. Dockerfile.python, Dockerfile.golang, Dockerfile.rust). The tag-suffix must match the uri: of the entry you give to backendcatalog --add (step 3) exactly.

Path-filter registration — REQUIRED for any new dockerfile suffix. This is the single most common omission, because it has no effect on the PR that adds the backend (when no prior path filter could catch it anyway) — it only breaks the next PR that touches your backend's directory, which then gets zero CI jobs and looks broken for unrelated reasons. Edit scripts/lib/backend-filter.mjs:inferBackendPath and add a branch BEFORE the more-generic suffixes:

if (item.dockerfile.endsWith("<your-dockerfile-suffix>")) {
    return `backend/cpp/<your-backend>/`;   // or backend/python|go|rust/...
}

The endsWith() test is against the matrix entry's dockerfile: value (e.g. ./backend/Dockerfile.ds4 → endsWith("ds4")). Specificity order matters here just like it does for importers: more-specific suffixes go BEFORE more-generic ones (e.g. ds4 before llama-cpp even though both end with letters, because some upstream might one day call itself super-ds4-llama-cpp). Verify locally before pushing:

# Confirm your dockerfile suffix is unique enough
node -e "
const yaml = require('js-yaml'); const fs = require('fs');
const m = yaml.load(fs.readFileSync('.github/backend-matrix.yml','utf8'));
for (const e of m.include.filter(e => e.backend === '<your-backend>')) {
  console.log(e.dockerfile, '->', e.dockerfile.endsWith('<suffix>'));
}"

A quick way to find the right insertion point: grep -n 'item.dockerfile.endsWith' scripts/lib/backend-filter.mjs.

If your backend consumes a shared build input that lives outside its own directory (a new script under scripts/build/, a new file copied into every image), add a rule to SHARED_BUILD_INPUTS in the same file — the per-backend prefix match cannot see those, and a miss ships your change to no image at all. See scripts/lib/backend-filter_test.mjs for the pattern; make test-ci-scripts runs it.

bump_deps.yaml registration — REQUIRED for any backend pinning an upstream commit. If your backend's Makefile has a *_VERSION?=<sha> pin to a third-party repo, the daily auto-bump bot at .github/workflows/bump_deps.yaml won't notice it unless you register the backend in its matrix. The bot runs .github/bump_deps.sh which greps for ^$VAR?= in the Makefile you list — so the pin MUST live in the Makefile (not in a separate shell script). The bump for ds4 (#9761) had to walk this back because the original landed the pin in prepare.sh, which the bot can't see. Pattern (for antirez/ds4):

# .github/workflows/bump_deps.yaml
matrix:
  include:
    - repository: "antirez/ds4"
      variable: "DS4_VERSION"
      branch: "main"
      file: "backend/cpp/ds4/Makefile"

And the corresponding Makefile shape (mirror backend/cpp/llama-cpp/Makefile):

DS4_VERSION?=ae302c2fa18cc6d9aefc021d0f27ae03c9ad2fc0
DS4_REPO?=https://github.com/antirez/ds4
...
ds4:
	mkdir -p ds4
	cd ds4 && git init -q && \
	git remote add origin $(DS4_REPO) && \
	git fetch --depth 1 origin $(DS4_VERSION) && \
	git checkout FETCH_HEAD

If you have a prepare.sh doing the clone, delete it — the recipe belongs in the Makefile target so make purge && make works as a clean-and-rebuild and so the bump bot finds the pin.

Placement in file:

  • CPU builds: Add after other CPU builds (e.g., after cpu-chatterbox)
  • CUDA 12 builds: Add after other CUDA 12 builds (e.g., after gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-chatterbox)
  • CUDA 13 builds: Add after other CUDA 13 builds (e.g., after gpu-nvidia-cuda-13-chatterbox)

Additional build types you may need:

  • ROCm/HIP: Use build-type: 'hipblas' with base-image: "rocm/dev-ubuntu-24.04:7.2.1"
  • Intel/SYCL: Use build-type: 'intel' or build-type: 'sycl_f16'/sycl_f32 with base-image: "intel/oneapi-basekit:2025.3.2-0-devel-ubuntu24.04"
  • L4T (ARM): Use build-type: 'l4t' with platforms: 'linux/arm64' and runs-on: 'ubuntu-24.04-arm'

Per-arch native builds (linux/amd64 + linux/arm64):

Multi-arch backends are NOT a single matrix entry with platforms: 'linux/amd64,linux/arm64'. Instead, add two entries — one with platforms: 'linux/amd64' + platform-tag: 'amd64' + runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest', one with platforms: 'linux/arm64' + platform-tag: 'arm64' + runs-on: 'ubuntu-24.04-arm' — both sharing the same tag-suffix. The script detects the shared tag-suffix and emits a merge-matrix entry, so backend-merge-jobs (in backend.yml/backend_pr.yml) automatically assembles the manifest list from per-arch digest artifacts. See -cpu-faster-whisper in .github/backend-matrix.yml for a reference shape.

llama-cpp / ik-llama-cpp / turboquant variants only — builder-base-image:

Entries whose dockerfile is ./backend/Dockerfile.{llama-cpp,ik-llama-cpp,turboquant} must also set a builder-base-image field pointing at a prebuilt base from quay.io/go-skynet/ci-cache:base-grpc-* (CI builds these via .github/workflows/base-images.yml). The mapping is by (build-type, platforms) — see existing entries for the pattern. CI uses these prebuilt bases to skip the gRPC compile (~25–35 min cold). Local make backends/<name> ignores builder-base-image and uses the from-source path inside the Dockerfile, so you don't need quay access for local builds.

Cover every OS the project supports (Linux and Darwin)

.github/backend-matrix.yml has two matrices, and they are the source of truth for which OS a backend ships on:

  • include: — the Linux matrix (x86_64 + arm64; CPU and CUDA / ROCm / SYCL / Vulkan).
  • includeDarwin: — the macOS / Apple Silicon matrix (arm64; Metal where the engine supports it, otherwise a native arm64 CPU build).

A new backend must target every OS it can build for — do not ship Linux-only by default. A backend that appears only under include: is silently unavailable on macOS even when its code would run there. Most C/C++/GGML engines build on Darwin out of the box (ggml defaults GGML_METAL=ON on Apple, so a plain build is Metal-enabled), and many Python backends do too (CPU / MPS wheels). If a backend genuinely cannot support an OS (e.g. CUDA-only, no CPU variant), state that in the PR description instead of omitting it silently.

Wiring a backend into includeDarwin: is more than the matrix entry:

  1. includeDarwin: entry — tag-suffix: "-metal-darwin-arm64-<backend>", build-type: "metal", lang: "go" for go+ggml backends; omit build-type for the bespoke C++ ones (llama-cpp / ds4 / privacy-filter). Match an existing entry of the same shape.
  2. The backend library (step 3) — add metal: to the backend's capabilities map (main and -development) and concrete metal-<backend> / metal-<backend>-development image entries pointing at the -metal-darwin-arm64-<backend> images.
  3. C/C++ backends only — add an inferBackendPathDarwin case in scripts/lib/backend-filter.mjs returning backend/cpp/<backend>/ (the generic fallthrough assumes backend/<lang>/, which is wrong for a C++ source tree driven with lang: go), and give run.sh a Darwin branch that exports DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH instead of LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If the build is bespoke (single grpc-server + dylib bundling), model it on scripts/build/ds4-darwin.sh and add a backends/<backend>-darwin make target plus a gated step in .github/workflows/backend_build_darwin.yml.
  4. C++ proto gotcha — if the backend compiles the generated gRPC/protobuf in a separate CMake target (e.g. hw_grpc_proto), that target must link protobuf::libprotobuf + gRPC::grpc++ so the Homebrew include dirs propagate; otherwise macOS fails with google/protobuf/runtime_version.h not found (Linux hides this because apt headers sit in /usr/include).

The CI path filter only builds a backend on a PR when a file under its directory changes, so a darwin-only YAML edit builds nothing — touch a file under backend/<lang>/<backend>/ (a one-line comment is enough) in the same PR.

3. Add Backend Metadata to the Backend Library

gallery/backends/index.yaml is the backend library and the source of truth for the backends. backend/index.yaml is the backend gallery: a generated copy that stays only so releases before the library cutover keep working. Never edit backend/index.yaml; CI (.github/workflows/backend-library.yml) fails when it differs from the generated copy.

You do not write library entries by hand. A library entry is one backend image for one platform, pinned by a digest, so a backend with ten variants has dozens of them. Write the backend the way the gallery shaped it, in a scratch file, and let scripts/backends/cmd/backendcatalog convert it. Put the scratch file under assets/work/ or the system temp directory, not in the repository.

Step 3a: Write the entries in gallery shape

Use a YAML anchor for the meta definition and <<: *anchor for the image entries, as in the old backend/index.yaml (a similar backend such as diffusers or chatterbox is in core/gallery/testdata/backend_library/gallery-before.yaml, which keeps the whole gallery as it was before the library). A meta backend has capabilities and no uri. An image entry has uri (no oci:// prefix), mirrors and, if you keep them, the same capabilities. Include both latest- (production) and master- (development) tags, and name the development entries <name>-development.

Step 3b: Merge them into the library

go run ./scripts/backends/cmd/backendcatalog --add my-backend.yaml --library gallery/backends/index.yaml
go run ./scripts/backends/cmd/backendcatalog --library gallery/backends/index.yaml --out backend/index.yaml

The first command converts the entries, pins every latest- image that is already in the registry to the digest of each platform, and merges the result into the library. Entries of other backends are not touched. An image that is not published yet (the usual case for a new backend, because CI builds it after the merge) is written unpinned and mutable: true: it installs by its tag, and a maintainer pins it with --repin once the image exists. A master- image is always mutable; the install pins it. The second command regenerates backend/index.yaml. Commit both files.

To change a backend that is already there, put its new entries in the scratch file and run --add again: the entries of that backend are replaced where they stand. To pin every latest- image again after a release, run go run ./scripts/backends/cmd/backendcatalog --library gallery/backends/index.yaml --repin; this is the only mode that reads the registry, and a digest is never edited by hand.

Note on integrity: OCI backends installed from a gallery whose verification: block is set are verified against a keyless-cosign policy before extraction; tarball/HTTP backends use the optional sha256: field. New backends do not need any extra YAML — the gallery-level verification: block covers every entry. See .agents/backend-signing.md for the producer-side CI step.

4. Update the Makefile

The Makefile needs to be updated in several places to support building and testing the new backend:

Step 4a: Add to .NOTPARALLEL

Add backends/<backend-name> to the .NOTPARALLEL line (around line 2) to prevent parallel execution conflicts:

.NOTPARALLEL: ... backends/<backend-name>

Step 4b: Add to prepare-test-extra

Add the backend to the prepare-test-extra target to prepare it for testing. Use the path matching your language bucket (backend/python/, backend/go/, backend/rust/, …):

prepare-test-extra: protogen-python
	...
	$(MAKE) -C backend/<lang>/<backend-name>

For Rust backends the target is usually the crate build target itself (e.g. $(MAKE) -C backend/rust/<backend-name> <backend-name>-grpc) so the binary is in place before test runs.

Step 4c: Add to test-extra

Add the backend to the test-extra target to run its tests — applies to Go and Rust backends too, not only Python:

test-extra: prepare-test-extra
	...
	$(MAKE) -C backend/<lang>/<backend-name> test

Each backend's own Makefile should define a test target so this line works regardless of language. Integration tests that need large model downloads should be gated behind an env var (see backend/rust/kokoros/'s KOKOROS_MODEL_PATH pattern) so CI only runs unit tests.

Step 4d: Add Backend Definition

Add a backend definition variable in the backend definitions section (around line 428-457). The format depends on the backend type:

For Python backends with root context (like faster-whisper, coqui):

BACKEND_<BACKEND_NAME> = <backend-name>|python|.|false|true

For Python backends with ./backend context (like chatterbox, moonshine):

BACKEND_<BACKEND_NAME> = <backend-name>|python|./backend|false|true

For Go backends:

BACKEND_<BACKEND_NAME> = <backend-name>|golang|.|false|true

For Rust backends:

BACKEND_<BACKEND_NAME> = <backend-name>|rust|.|false|true

The language field (python/golang/rust/…) must match a backend/Dockerfile.<lang> file.

Step 4e: Generate Docker Build Target

Add an eval call to generate the docker-build target (around line 480-501):

$(eval $(call generate-docker-build-target,$(BACKEND_<BACKEND_NAME>)))

Step 4f: Add to docker-build-backends

Add docker-build-<backend-name> to the docker-build-backends target (around line 507):

docker-build-backends: ... docker-build-<backend-name>

Determining the Context:

  • If the backend is in backend/python/<backend-name>/ and uses ./backend as context in the workflow file, use ./backend context
  • If the backend is in backend/python/<backend-name>/ but uses . as context in the workflow file, use . context
  • Check similar backends to determine the correct context

A gallery entry can declare variants, alternative builds of the same weights, and LocalAI picks one per host: it drops builds whose backend cannot run here or that do not fit memory, then ranks the survivors by engine preference first, serving feature second, size third (SelectVariant in core/gallery/resolve_variant.go).

Ask whether your backend should outrank another one on some hardware. If it should, add it to engineNamePreferenceRules in pkg/system/capabilities.go, best engine first for that capability:

 	{Nvidia, []string{engineVLLM, engineSGLang, engineLlamaCpp}},
+	{Nvidia, []string{engineVLLM, engineSGLang, engineMyEngine, engineLlamaCpp}},

That is the ENGINE NAME table, matched as a substring of a gallery entry's backend: value. Two sibling tables in the same file speak different vocabularies and are matched against different things:

Table Vocabulary Matched against Consumer
backendBuildTagPreferenceRules build tags (cuda, rocm, metal) installed build directory names, as a substring alias resolution in ListSystemBackends
engineNamePreferenceRules engine names (vllm, llama-cpp, mlx) a gallery entry's backend:, as a substring gallery variant ranking
servingFeaturePreferenceTokens serving features (dflash, mtp) a gallery entry's tags:, compared whole and case-insensitively, and nothing else gallery variant ranking, one rank below the engine

Putting a token in the wrong table matches nothing and does not error: every candidate scores equal and the next sort key decides, so the preference silently stops existing. The block comment above all three tables spells the contract out.

The serving feature table is the odd one: it is not keyed by capability, because no hardware prefers a plain build over an equivalent faster build of the same weights. It reads a declared tag and nothing else. The entry name was the original signal and is gone: a naming convention is not a contract, and names are author-supplied free text where a short marker like mtp turns up inside unrelated words or on weights whose entry enables nothing. overrides.options was rejected for the mirror-image reason: spec_type: is llama.cpp's config vocabulary, whereas a cross-backend ranking decision must work the same for ds4's mtp_path: and sglang's speculative_algorithm:.

If your backend can serve the same weights faster (speculative decoding, multi-token prediction), say so in the docs for its gallery entries so curators tag them: the tagging rule and the per-backend evidence table live in adding-gallery-models.md. A backend never needs to appear in the token table itself; it ranks builds, not engines.

Leaving your backend out is a valid choice when no ordering can be justified for it. It then ranks below every known engine and selection falls back to size, which is the behaviour that predates preference.

Leaving a whole capability out is not. A missing row gives that host an empty preference list, so size alone decides among everything that survives the filters, and the filter will not save you: IsBackendCompatible derives hardware support from the engine NAME, so vllm and sglang carry no darwin, cuda, rocm or sycl token and are never dropped on a host with no GPU. That is why default (no usable accelerator, including a GPU under the 4 GiB VRAM floor) and darwin-x86 both have rows putting llama-cpp first. Every capability getSystemCapabilities() can return needs a row unless every engine really is equally at home there. When you add one, enumerate the engines you are demoting rather than relying on them falling through unmatched: unmatched engines all tie with each other, so size decides among them.

Documenting the backend (README + docs)

A backend is not "added" until it is discoverable. Update the user-facing docs:

  • docs/content/features/backends.md - add the backend to the right category in the "LocalAI supports various types of backends" list (and add a new category if it introduces a new modality, e.g. sound classification).
  • If the backend introduces a new API surface (a new endpoint or a realtime capability), document it under docs/content/ where its area lives (audio, vision, etc.) and follow the api-endpoints checklist in api-endpoints-and-auth.md.

If the backend is a native C/C++/GGML engine created and maintained by the LocalAI team (a from-scratch port like parakeet.cpp, ced.cpp, vibevoice.cpp, rf-detr.cpp, not a wrapper around a third-party runtime), it ALSO belongs in the top-level README.md table under "native C/C++/GGML engines ... developed and maintained by the LocalAI project itself". Add a row linking the upstream engine repo with a one-line description. This is the project's showcase of its own engines; a new in-house backend that is missing from it is a documentation bug.

5. Verification Checklist

After adding a new backend, verify:

  • Backend directory structure is complete with all necessary files
  • Build configurations added to .github/backend-matrix.yml for all desired platforms (per-arch entries with platform-tag for multi-arch; builder-base-image for llama-cpp / ik-llama-cpp / turboquant)
  • OS coverage considered: added to includeDarwin: (macOS/Apple Silicon) if the backend can build there — with the metal: capability in the backend library + metal-<backend> image entries, a run.sh Darwin/DYLD branch and inferBackendPathDarwin case (in scripts/lib/backend-filter.mjs) for C++ backends — or the PR explains why an OS is unsupported. Do not ship Linux-only by default.
  • Meta definition and image entries added to the backend library with backendcatalog --add, for all build variants (latest + development), and backend/index.yaml regenerated (never edited by hand)
  • Tag suffixes match between the workflow file and the library entries
  • Makefile updated with all 6 required changes (.NOTPARALLEL, prepare-test-extra, test-extra, backend definition, docker-build target eval, docker-build-backends)
  • No YAML syntax errors (check with linter)
  • No Makefile syntax errors (check with linter)
  • Follows the same pattern as similar backends (e.g., if it's a transcription backend, follow faster-whisper pattern)
  • Load validates its input and refuses models it can't serve. When a model config has no explicit backend:, the model loader greedily probes every installed backend with the model's name and binds to the first Load that succeeds — an accept-anything Load will capture arbitrary LLMs (issue #9287). Backends that load a real artefact get this for free (the load fails); backends with no artefact must gate on the name: opus accepts only its own name (or none), local-store requires the store.NamespacePrefix namespace marker sent by core/backend/stores.go.
  • Gallery variant ranking considered: if this backend should be preferred over another on some hardware, it is listed in engineNamePreferenceRules (NOT backendBuildTagPreferenceRules, NOT servingFeaturePreferenceTokens) in pkg/system/capabilities.go. A missing entry silently ranks it last and lets the next sort key decide.
  • Documented: added to the category list in docs/content/features/backends.md (and any new endpoint/realtime capability documented under docs/content/)
  • If it is an in-house native C/C++/GGML engine, added to the maintained-engines table in the top-level README.md

Bundling runtime shared libraries (package.sh)

The final Dockerfile.python stage is FROM scratch — there is no system libc, no apt, no fallback library path. Only files explicitly copied from the builder stage end up in the backend image. That means any runtime dlopen your backend (or its Python deps) needs must be packaged into ${BACKEND}/lib/.

Pattern:

  1. Make sure the library is installed in the builder stage of backend/Dockerfile.python (add it to the top-level apt-get install).
  2. Drop a package.sh in your backend directory that copies the library — and its soname symlinks — into $(dirname $0)/lib. See backend/python/vllm/package.sh for a reference implementation that walks /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu, /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu, etc.
  3. Dockerfile.python already runs package.sh automatically if it exists, after package-gpu-libs.sh.
  4. libbackend.sh automatically prepends ${EDIR}/lib to LD_LIBRARY_PATH at run time, so anything packaged this way is found by dlopen.

How to find missing libs: when a Python module silently fails to register torch ops or you see AttributeError: '_OpNamespace' '...' object has no attribute '...', run the backend image's Python with LD_DEBUG=libs to see which dlopen failed. The filename in the error message (e.g. libnuma.so.1) is what you need to package.

To verify packaging works without trusting the host:

make docker-build-<backend>
CID=$(docker create --entrypoint=/run.sh local-ai-backend:<backend>)
docker cp $CID:/lib /tmp/check && docker rm $CID
ls /tmp/check    # expect the bundled .so files + symlinks

Then boot it inside a fresh ubuntu:24.04 (which intentionally does not have the lib installed) to confirm it actually loads from the backend dir.

Importer integration

When you add a new backend, you MUST also make it importable via the model import form (/import-model). The import form dropdown is sourced dynamically from GET /backends/known — it reads the importer registry at core/gallery/importers/importers.go, so the steps below are the ONLY way to make your backend show up.

Required steps:

  1. If your backend has unambiguous detection signals (unique file extension, HF pipeline_tag, unique repo name pattern, unique artefact like modules.json):
    • Create an importer file at core/gallery/importers/<backend>.go following the Match/Import pattern in llama-cpp.go.
    • Register it in importers.go:defaultImporters in specificity order — more specific detectors must appear BEFORE more generic ones (e.g. sentencetransformers before transformers, stablediffusion-ggml before llama-cpp, vllm-omni before vllm). First match wins.
  2. If your backend is a drop-in replacement (same artefacts as another backend, e.g. ik-llama-cpp and turboquant both consume GGUF the same way llama-cpp does):
    • Do NOT create a new importer. Extend the existing importer's Import() to swap the emitted backend: field when preferences.backend matches. See llama-cpp.go for the pattern.
  3. If your backend has no reliable auto-detect signal (preference-only — e.g. sglang, tinygrad, whisperx):
    • Do NOT create an importer. Instead add the backend name to the curated pref-only slice in core/http/endpoints/localai/backend.go that feeds /backends/known. A single line addition.
  4. Always add a table-driven test in core/gallery/importers/importers_test.go (Ginkgo/Gomega):
    • Use a real public HuggingFace repo URI as the test fixture (existing tests already hit the live HF API — follow that pattern).
    • Cover detection (auto-match without preferences), preference-override (explicit backend: in preferences wins), and — if the backend's modality has a common pipeline_tag but ambiguous artefacts — an ambiguity test asserting errors.Is(err, importers.ErrAmbiguousImport).

Rules of thumb:

  • When in doubt, lean pref-only. A wrong auto-detect is worse than a forced preference.
  • Never silently emit a modality mismatch (e.g. emit llama-cpp for a TTS repo because .gguf is present). Return ErrAmbiguousImport instead.
  • Registration order is the single most common source of bugs. Check by running go test ./core/gallery/importers/... — the existing suite will fail if you've shadowed a pre-existing detector.

6. Example: Adding a Python Backend

For reference, when moonshine was added:

  • Files created: backend/python/moonshine/{backend.py, Makefile, install.sh, protogen.sh, requirements.txt, run.sh, test.py, test.sh}
  • Workflow entries: 3 build configurations (CPU, CUDA 12, CUDA 13)
  • Index entries: 1 meta definition + 6 image entries (cpu, cuda12, cuda13 x latest/development)
  • Makefile updates:
    • Added to .NOTPARALLEL line
    • Added to prepare-test-extra and test-extra targets
    • Added BACKEND_MOONSHINE = moonshine|python|./backend|false|true
    • Added eval for docker-build target generation
    • Added docker-build-moonshine to docker-build-backends