Gerbil offers a user-friendly desktop application for running Large Language Models (LLMs) locally on personal hardware. It targets engineers, researchers, and power users who wish to leverage advanced AI capabilities without the complexities of manual backend configuration, model management, and hardware acceleration setup. The primary benefit is enabling powerful, private AI experiences with an intuitive graphical interface and minimal user-side technical overhead.

How It Works

At its core, Gerbil utilizes KoboldCpp, a robust fork of the highly optimized llama.cpp project, to power LLM inference. This foundation ensures efficient performance across a wide range of hardware. The application's graphical user interface abstracts away the intricacies of model loading, download management (including an integrated HuggingFace search for GGUF files), and the configuration of diverse hardware acceleration methods. It supports CPU-only operation while also seamlessly integrating with GPU acceleration technologies such as CUDA, ROCm, Vulkan, CLBlast, and Metal.

Quick Start & Requirements

Pre-built binaries are available for Windows (.exe), macOS (.dmg), and Linux (.AppImage). For Arch Linux users, a convenient AUR package is available (yay -S gerbil). Portable versions require no installation. While CPU-only operation is functional, GPU acceleration is strongly recommended for optimal performance. Specific integrations, like SillyTavern, necessitate Node.js, and OpenWebUI requires uv. Detailed download and feature links are accessible via the project's README.

Highlighted Details

• Cross-Platform Native Support: Offers seamless operation on Windows, macOS, and Linux, including Wayland compatibility.
• Offline Capability: Supports running LLMs entirely offline by importing pre-downloaded KoboldCpp binaries.
• Flexible Hardware Acceleration: Accommodates CPU-only systems and provides extensive GPU support (CUDA, ROCm, Vulkan, CLBlast, Metal).
• Integrated Model Discovery: Features a built-in HuggingFace search for browsing and downloading GGUF model files directly within the app.
• Ecosystem Integrations: Facilitates easy launching of SillyTavern for advanced character interactions and OpenWebUI for a modern chat interface.
• Privacy-Focused: All processing occurs locally, ensuring no external data transmission or user telemetry.

Maintenance & Community

The provided README does not contain specific details regarding notable contributors, sponsorships, or community engagement channels such as Discord or Slack.

Licensing & Compatibility

Gerbil is distributed under the AGPL v3 license. This permissive yet strong copyleft license mandates that any derivative works must also be released under the AGPL v3 terms, which may impose restrictions on commercial use or integration into proprietary software.

Limitations & Caveats

Users on Windows requiring ROCm GPU acceleration must manually add the ROCm binary directory to their system's PATH environment variable. macOS users will need to bypass the security quarantine for the application. The portable Windows .exe version has known limitations concerning the display and termination of its command-line interface mode.