llamactl/README.md

llamactl

A control server for managing multiple Llama Server instances with a web-based dashboard.

Features

• Multi-instance Management: Create, start, stop, restart, and delete multiple llama-server instances
• Web Dashboard: Modern React-based UI for managing instances
• Auto-restart: Configurable automatic restart on instance failure
• Instance Monitoring: Real-time health checks and status monitoring
• Log Management: View, search, and download instance logs
• REST API: Full API for programmatic control
• OpenAI Compatible: Route requests to instances by instance name
• Configuration Management: Comprehensive llama-server parameter support
• System Information: View llama-server version, devices, and help

Prerequisites

This project requires llama-server from llama.cpp to be installed and available in your PATH.

Install llama.cpp: Follow the installation instructions at https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp

Installation

Build Requirements

• Go 1.24 or later
• Node.js 22 or later (for building the web UI)

Building with Web UI

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/lordmathis/llamactl.git
cd llamactl

# Install Node.js dependencies
cd webui
npm ci

# Build the web UI
npm run build

# Return to project root and build
cd ..
go build -o llamactl ./cmd/server

# Run the server
./llamactl

Configuration

llamactl can be configured via configuration files or environment variables. Configuration is loaded in the following order of precedence:

1. Hardcoded defaults
2. Configuration file
3. Environment variables

Configuration Files

Configuration files are searched in the following locations:

Linux/macOS:

• ./llamactl.yaml or ./config.yaml (current directory)
• ~/.config/llamactl/config.yaml
• /etc/llamactl/config.yaml

Windows:

• ./llamactl.yaml or ./config.yaml (current directory)
• %APPDATA%\llamactl\config.yaml
• %PROGRAMDATA%\llamactl\config.yaml

You can specify the path to config file with LLAMACTL_CONFIG_PATH environment variable

Configuration Options

Server Configuration

server:
  host: ""              # Server host to bind to (default: "")
  port: 8080             # Server port to bind to (default: 8080)

Environment Variables:

• LLAMACTL_HOST - Server host
• LLAMACTL_PORT - Server port

Instance Configuration

instances:
  port_range: [8000, 9000]           # Port range for instances
  log_directory: "/tmp/llamactl"     # Directory for instance logs
  max_instances: -1                  # Maximum instances (-1 = unlimited)
  llama_executable: "llama-server"   # Path to llama-server executable
  default_auto_restart: true         # Default auto-restart setting
  default_max_restarts: 3            # Default maximum restart attempts
  default_restart_delay: 5           # Default restart delay in seconds

Environment Variables:

• LLAMACTL_INSTANCE_PORT_RANGE - Port range (format: "8000-9000" or "8000,9000")
• LLAMACTL_LOG_DIR - Log directory path
• LLAMACTL_MAX_INSTANCES - Maximum number of instances
• LLAMACTL_LLAMA_EXECUTABLE - Path to llama-server executable
• LLAMACTL_DEFAULT_AUTO_RESTART - Default auto-restart setting (true/false)
• LLAMACTL_DEFAULT_MAX_RESTARTS - Default maximum restarts
• LLAMACTL_DEFAULT_RESTART_DELAY - Default restart delay in seconds

Example Configuration

server:
  host: "0.0.0.0"
  port: 8080

instances:
  port_range: [8001, 8100]
  log_directory: "/var/log/llamactl"
  max_instances: 10
  llama_executable: "/usr/local/bin/llama-server"
  default_auto_restart: true
  default_max_restarts: 5
  default_restart_delay: 10

Usage

Starting the Server

# Start with default configuration
./llamactl

# Start with custom config file
LLAMACTL_CONFIG_PATH=/path/to/config.yaml ./llamactl

# Start with environment variables
LLAMACTL_PORT=9090 LLAMACTL_LOG_DIR=/custom/logs ./llamactl

Web Dashboard

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080 to access the web dashboard.

API Usage

The REST API is available at http://localhost:8080/api/v1. See the Swagger documentation at http://localhost:8080/swagger/ for complete API reference.

Create an Instance

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/v1/instances/my-instance \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "/path/to/model.gguf",
    "gpu_layers": 32,
    "auto_restart": true
  }'

List Instances

curl http://localhost:8080/api/v1/instances

Start/Stop Instance

# Start
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/v1/instances/my-instance/start

# Stop
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/v1/instances/my-instance/stop

OpenAI Compatible Endpoints

Route requests to instances by including the instance name as the model parameter:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "my-instance",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Development

Running Tests

# Go tests
go test ./...

# Web UI tests
cd webui
npm test

Development Server

# Start Go server in development mode
go run ./cmd/server

# Start web UI development server (in another terminal)
cd webui
npm run dev

API Documentation

Interactive API documentation is available at http://localhost:8080/swagger/ when the server is running.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.