The 5MB Alternative to Ollama

Shimmy will be free forever. No asterisks. No "free for now." No pivot to paid.

Fast, reliable local AI inference. Shimmy provides OpenAI-compatible endpoints for GGUF models with comprehensive testing and automated quality assurance.

What is Shimmy?

Shimmy is a 5.1MB single-binary local inference server that provides OpenAI API-compatible endpoints for GGUF models. It's designed to be the invisible infrastructure that just works.

🎯 Perfect for Developers

• Privacy: Your code stays on your machine
• Cost: No per-token pricing, unlimited queries
• Speed: Local inference = sub-second responses
• Integration: Works with VSCode, Cursor, Continue.dev out of the box

BONUS: First-class LoRA adapter support - from training to production API in 30 seconds.

Quick Start (30 seconds)

Installation

🪟 Windows

# RECOMMENDED: Use pre-built binary (no build dependencies required)

curl -L https://github.com/Michael-A-Kuykendall/shimmy/releases/latest/download/shimmy.exe -o shimmy.exe


# OR: Install from source (requires LLVM/Clang)

# First install build dependencies:

winget install LLVM.LLVM

# Then install shimmy:

cargo install shimmy --features huggingface

⚠️ Windows Notes:

• Pre-built binary recommended to avoid build dependency issues
• If Windows Defender flags the binary, add an exclusion or use cargo install
• For cargo install: Install LLVM first to resolve libclang.dll errors

🍎 macOS / 🐧 Linux

# Install from crates.io

cargo install shimmy --features huggingface

Get Models

Shimmy auto-discovers models from:

• Hugging Face cache: ~/.cache/huggingface/hub/
• Ollama models: ~/.ollama/models/
• Local directory: ./models/
• Environment: SHIMMY_BASE_GGUF=path/to/model.gguf

# Download models that work out of the box

huggingface-cli download microsoft/Phi-3-mini-4k-instruct-gguf --local-dir ./models/

huggingface-cli download bartowski/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct-GGUF --local-dir ./models/

Start Server

# Auto-allocates port to avoid conflicts

shimmy serve


# Or use manual port

shimmy serve --bind 127.0.0.1:11435

Point your AI tools to the displayed port - VSCode Copilot, Cursor, Continue.dev all work instantly!

📦 Download & Install

Package Managers

• Rust: cargo install shimmy
• VS Code: Shimmy Extension
• npm: npm install -g shimmy-js (coming soon)
• Python: pip install shimmy (coming soon)

Direct Downloads

• GitHub Releases: Latest binaries
• Docker: docker pull ghcr.io/michael-a-kuykendall/shimmy:latest

🐳 Docker Setup

Quick Start:

# Clone the repo for docker-compose

git clone https://github.com/Michael-A-Kuykendall/shimmy.git

cd shimmy


# Start with docker-compose (builds locally)

docker-compose up


# Or pull from GitHub Container Registry (when available)

docker run -p 11434:11434 -v ./models:/app/models ghcr.io/michael-a-kuykendall/shimmy:latest

Production Setup:

version: '3.8'
services:
  shimmy:
    image: ghcr.io/michael-a-kuykendall/shimmy:latest
    ports:
      - "11434:11434"
    volumes:
      - ./models:/app/models
    environment:
      - SHIMMY_BASE_GGUF=/app/models
    restart: unless-stopped

🍎 macOS Support

Full compatibility confirmed! Shimmy works flawlessly on macOS with Metal GPU acceleration.

# Install dependencies

brew install cmake rust


# Install shimmy

cargo install shimmy

✅ Verified working:

• Intel and Apple Silicon Macs
• Metal GPU acceleration (automatic)
• Xcode 17+ compatibility
• All LoRA adapter features

Integration Examples

VSCode Copilot

{
  "github.copilot.advanced": {
    "serverUrl": "http://localhost:11435"
  }
}

Continue.dev

{
  "models": [{
    "title": "Local Shimmy",
    "provider": "openai", 
    "model": "your-model-name",
    "apiBase": "http://localhost:11435/v1"
  }]
}

Cursor IDE

Works out of the box - just point to http://localhost:11435/v1

Why Shimmy Will Always Be Free

I built Shimmy because I was tired of 680MB binaries to run a 4GB model.

This is my commitment: Shimmy stays MIT licensed, forever. If you want to support development, sponsor it. If you don't, just build something cool with it.

Shimmy saves you time and money. If it's useful, consider sponsoring for $5/month — less than your Netflix subscription, infinitely more useful.

Performance Comparison

API Reference

Endpoints

• GET /health - Health check
• POST /v1/chat/completions - OpenAI-compatible chat
• GET /v1/models - List available models
• POST /api/generate - Shimmy native API
• GET /ws/generate - WebSocket streaming

CLI Commands

shimmy serve                    # Start server (auto port allocation)

shimmy serve --bind 127.0.0.1:8080  # Manual port binding

shimmy list                     # Show available models  

shimmy discover                 # Refresh model discovery

shimmy generate --name X --prompt "Hi"  # Test generation

shimmy probe model-name         # Verify model loads

Technical Architecture

• Rust + Tokio: Memory-safe, async performance
• llama.cpp backend: Industry-standard GGUF inference
• OpenAI API compatibility: Drop-in replacement
• Dynamic port management: Zero conflicts, auto-allocation
• Zero-config auto-discovery: Just works™

Community & Support

• 🐛 Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
• 💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• 📖 Documentation: docs/
• 💝 Sponsorship: GitHub Sponsors

Sponsors

See our amazing sponsors who make Shimmy possible! 🙏

Sponsorship Tiers:

• $5/month: Coffee tier - My eternal gratitude + sponsor badge
• $25/month: Bug prioritizer - Priority support + name in SPONSORS.md
• $100/month: Corporate backer - Logo on README + monthly office hours
• $500/month: Infrastructure partner - Direct support + roadmap input

Companies: Need invoicing? Email michaelallenkuykendall@gmail.com

Quality & Reliability

Shimmy maintains high code quality through comprehensive testing:

• Comprehensive test suite with property-based testing
• Automated CI/CD pipeline with quality gates
• Runtime invariant checking for critical operations
• Cross-platform compatibility testing

See our testing approach for technical details.

License & Philosophy

MIT License - forever and always.

Philosophy: Infrastructure should be invisible. Shimmy is infrastructure.

Testing Philosophy: Reliability through comprehensive validation and property-based testing.

Forever maintainer: Michael A. Kuykendall
Promise: This will never become a paid product
Mission: Making local AI development frictionless

"The best code is code you don't have to think about."
"The best tests are properties you can't break."