Model Discovery

Find a model, install it on the computer that will run it, then load it into memory. A registry listing, an installed file, and a loaded model are different states.

Choose a model and variant#

Browse Models or the Actual model registry. The machine-readable index links to the current models, revisions, variant manifests, and downloadable artifacts.

Use each model's published variants as the source of truth. Available quantizations vary; do not assume every model has a Q6 variant. Q8_0 generally uses more disk and memory than Q4_K_M. Speed depends on the model and hardware, so a smaller download is not a promise of faster inference.

Download size is not the total memory needed to run a model. Context length, runtime allocations, and other workloads also consume memory.

Download from the website#

On a model page, choose run model. In Download to cluster, select an eligible online cluster, optionally enable Load after install, and choose Queue install.

Watch the displayed progress and any failure message. A queued download has not finished installation. If no eligible cluster appears, check that your computer is online and that you have the necessary ownership or organization permissions. See Organizations.

Download and load from the CLI#

Find the desired model:

actual models search "gemma"

Registry identifiers use this format:

actual:publisher/model@revision/QUANT

Copy the current complete identifier and quantization from the registry. For example, this pins a specific published revision:

actual models download actual:google/gemma-4-12b-it@5926caa4ec0cac5cbfadaf4077420520de1d5205/Q4_K_M

Wait for the download to finish, then inspect and load it:

actual models jobs
actual models list
actual models load
actual status

The interactive load picker lists installed models. In a script, pass the stable selector shown by actual models list as the argument to actual models load; do not rely on a display name that could identify multiple variants.

The download command also accepts supported Hugging Face repository identifiers. Models outside the Actual registry may need additional compatibility checks or files.

If zsh shows dquote>, the shell is waiting for a closing quote and has not run the command. Press Ctrl-C, then run actual models load to use the picker.

Progress, cancellation, and unloading#

Downloads belong to the daemon and can continue after you close the terminal. Use actual models jobs to inspect them and actual models cancel JOB_ID to cancel a job, replacing JOB_ID with its listed ID.

Job history can be unavailable after a restart. Use actual models list to check installed files after restarting. Rerun a failed download to retry it.

Use actual models unload to free the loaded model's memory. Unloading is separate from deleting installed files and can interrupt inference.

Available and loaded inventory#

Only online devices contribute to the public API's current inventory. GET /v1/models returns the models advertised by those devices, including models available to load and models already loaded.

Without X-Cluster-ID, inventory is aggregated across your account's clusters. An entry's loaded value means it is loaded somewhere in that result; inspect clusters[].cluster_id and clusters[].loaded before pinning a request to a particular cluster. A model loaded in one cluster is not automatically loaded in another.

Use the returned id or stable selector for inference. Display names can become ambiguous when several installed variants share a name.

The public inference API does not download or load models. Use the CLI or the website, then query inventory again and wait for the desired cluster to report the model loaded. See API Quickstart.

Load from Chat#

In Console > Chat, choose the cluster, then an installed model. The picker reflects that cluster's online devices and marks loading and loaded state. Selecting an unloaded model requests a load; wait until live state confirms readiness before sending.

If a device disconnects, inventory may disappear or change. Restore the connection before treating a saved model selection as ready.

Vision and audio#

Check the loaded model's capabilities for your client and hardware. Gemma 4 E2B IT is a registry option for image and audio use; download it through Actual so its companion files are included. Other variants may support images without audio.

On macOS, check the eye and waveform icons after loading. Console Chat accepts text only. See Vision & Audio for compatible applications and attachment guidance.