Models & tools
Choose models and tools with context
Start with your task and equipment, then review exact model files and runtime support. A model name or a download size alone cannot tell you whether the experience will be useful.
Selection guidance, with clear limits.
This page links to source documentation and setup recipes. PebbleRack has no live Hugging Face or OpenRouter integration, current model catalog, automatic fit score, or measured performance ranking.
Make a choice
Build a model-selection brief.
The recipes help you ask better questions and keep uncertain answers visible.
- 01Choose a model and runtime recipeProvide your equipment and task. Ask the assistant to verify exact artifacts, platform support, and memory assumptions.
- 02Plan your first local runtimeReview a source-checked guide before installing or downloading models.
- 03Compare local apps and runtimesConsider installation effort, interfaces, data paths, and ongoing maintenance.
- 04Compare a hosted APIInclude per-use costs and data handling. Hosted results do not establish local performance.
Selection checklist
Keep the configuration specific.
- Task: name an example input, desired output, and how you will check it.
- Equipment: record system RAM or unified memory, dedicated VRAM where present, operating system, and free disk space.
- Artifact: record the upstream repository, quantized file if used, revision, license, and access requirements.
- Memory: allow for model weights, context cache, runtime overhead, and other software. Fitting weights is only one constraint.
- Runtime: verify support for the exact platform and format. Ask for a documented candidate rather than an assumed match.
- Evidence: separate a published claim, a working-memory estimate, and an observed test on your configuration.
Primary sources
Read the source before the download.
Follow the original documentation for exact files, access rules, licenses, and current service details. These links do not transmit your setup brief.
- 01Hugging Face model cardsReview the model author's intended uses, limitations, license information, and reported evaluations.
- 02Hugging Face GGUF documentationUnderstand the file format and inspect the exact repository and file rather than matching by model name alone.
- 03OpenRouter model documentationReview hosted-model capabilities and current service information. OpenRouter is a cloud route, not a local runtime.
- 04How we describe evidenceCheck what source-verified and lab-tested mean before comparing results.