TextGen (text-generation-webui) Becomes Native Desktop App with Portable Builds
TextGen (formerly text-generation-webui, also known as oobabooga) has released a native desktop app version. The project, in development since December 2022, now offers portable builds — just download, unzip, and double-click textgen. No installation or files outside the extracted folder. All chat histories and settings live in a bundled user_data folder.
Key Features
- Privacy: Zero outbound requests. Unlike LM Studio, it does not phone home with OS, CPU, app version, or backend choices.
- ik_llama.cpp builds: Ships custom quant types like IQ4_KS and IQ5_KS for better accuracy vs vanilla llama.cpp used by LM Studio and Ollama.
- Built-in web search: Uses
ddgsPython library. Two modes: tool-calling with theweb_searchtool (works with Qwen 3.6 and Gemma 4) or a checkbox that fetches search results as text attachments. - Tool-calling: Supports single-file .py tools (easy custom functions), HTTP MCP servers, and stdio MCP servers. Option to require approve/reject confirmation before executing tool calls. Guide here.
- Custom characters: Create characters for casual chats alongside instruction-following conversations.
- API compatibility: OpenAI and Anthropic spec-compliant API. Works with Claude Code:
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:5000 claude. - PDF extraction: Uses PyMuPDF for accurate text extraction.
- Web page fetching: Uses
trafilaturato strip navigation/boilerplate, saving tokens in agentic loops. - Jinja2 templates: Renders chat templates via Python Jinja2, avoiding crashes in llama.cpp's C++ jinja reimplementation.
Available Builds
CUDA, Vulkan, CPU-only, Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel), and ROCm. All portable.
License: AGPLv3. Source: https://github.com/oobabooga/textgen
📖 Read the full source: r/LocalLLaMA
👀 See Also
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A developer reverse engineered Apple's Neural Engine private APIs to create a training pipeline for a 110M parameter MicroGPT model, achieving 6.6 TFLOPs/watt power efficiency on M4 Mac hardware.
Jean-Claude: A Satirical LLM Frontend Mocking EU AI Regulation, with 412 Cookie Partners and VAT Invoices Every 5 Messages
Jean-Claude is a satirical LLM frontend that applies extreme EU-style bureaucracy to AI usage: 412 cookie partners, four-eyes principle requiring co-signature, per-token CO₂ tracking with mandatory €offset, VAT invoices every 5 messages, and a compliance center with fake GDPR/AI Act metrics.
MCP Support Merged into llama.cpp with New WebUI Features
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) pull request for llama.cpp has been merged, adding MCP support, tool calls, an agentic loop, and a server selector to the llama-server/WebUI side.