llama-cli -hf Cache Path: Where Hugging Face GGUF Models Are Saved

If you use llama-cli -hf to download and run a Hugging Face GGUF model, the files are stored in a cache directory rather than beside your current shell. The exact path depends on LLAMA_CACHE first, then Hugging Face cache variables such as HF_HUB_CACHE, HUGGINGFACE_HUB_CACHE, and HF_HOME.

For example:

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llama-cli -hf unsloth/gemma-4-E4B-it-GGUF

this uses the Hugging Face download support built into llama.cpp. Recent llama.cpp builds store models downloaded with -hf in the standard Hugging Face Hub cache directory.

llama-cli -hf Default Cache Locations

The cache location used by llama-cli -hf is first controlled by the LLAMA_CACHE environment variable. If LLAMA_CACHE is not set, llama.cpp checks Hugging Face cache variables such as HF_HUB_CACHE, HUGGINGFACE_HUB_CACHE, and HF_HOME.

If none of those variables are set, common default paths are:

On Windows, %USERPROFILE% usually expands to:

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C:\Users\用户名

So the default cache directory is roughly:

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C:\Users\用户名\.cache\huggingface\hub

How to change the llama-cli cache directory

Set LLAMA_CACHE if you want to store the downloaded models on a specific disk or in a specific folder. You can also follow the Hugging Face convention and set HF_HOME; in that case, the Hub cache directory will be $HF_HOME/hub.

Temporary Windows CMD example:

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set LLAMA_CACHE=D:\models\llama-cache
llama-cli -hf unsloth/gemma-4-E4B-it-GGUF

Temporary PowerShell example:

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$env:LLAMA_CACHE="D:\models\llama-cache"
llama-cli -hf unsloth/gemma-4-E4B-it-GGUF

Temporary Linux / macOS example:

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export LLAMA_CACHE=/data/models/llama-cache
llama-cli -hf unsloth/gemma-4-E4B-it-GGUF

Summary

• llama-cli -hf ... uses the download logic from llama.cpp, but recent builds default to the Hugging Face Hub cache.
• Linux / macOS default: ~/.cache/huggingface/hub
• Windows default: %USERPROFILE%\.cache\huggingface\hub
• To change the location, set LLAMA_CACHE, or set HF_HOME / HF_HUB_CACHE