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qualcomm/GenieX: Run frontier LLMs and VLMs locally on Qualcomm devices across NPU, GPU, and CPU with a few lines of code

qualcomm/GenieX: Run frontier LLMs and VLMs locally on Qualcomm devices across NPU, GPU, and CPU with a few lines of code

8 hours ago

Qualcomm AI Hub GenieX

The easiest way to run frontier LLMs & VLMs locally on Qualcomm devices

Status: Developer Preview</a> Docs</a> Release</a> License: BSD-3-Clause</a> Slack</a>

Documentation · Quickstart · Models · Community


GenieX is an on-device Gen AI inference runtime for Qualcomm devices. Bring almost any GGUF model from Hugging Face, ModelScope, or Docker Hub, or use a pre-compiled bundle from Qualcomm AI Hub. Run it locally on the Hexagon NPU, Adreno GPU, or CPU in a few lines of code. One C SDK underneath is exposed through a CLI, Python, Kotlin/Java, Docker, and an OpenAI-compatible server. It is the community version of Qualcomm GENIE.

GenieX architecture: CLI, Python, Java, Docker, and OpenAI-compatible Serve interfaces sit on a single GenieX SDK, which dispatches to the llama.cpp runtime (GGML over CPU / GPU / Hexagon HTP kernels) or the Qualcomm AI Engine Direct runtime on the NPU — across Windows, Android, and Linux.

Supported platforms

GenieX runs only on Qualcomm Snapdragon. Find your platform, then jump straight to the interface you want to use.

| Platform | Example devices | Jump to a quickstart | | --- | --- | --- | | 🪟 Windows ARM64 (Compute) | Snapdragon X · X Elite | CLI · Python · Local server | | 🤖 Android (Mobile) | Snapdragon 8 Elite · 8 Elite Gen 5 | Android SDK | | 🐧 Linux ARM64 (IoT) | Dragonwing QCS9075 | CLI · Docker · Python |

No device on hand? Spin up a remote session on Qualcomm Device Cloud.

Quickstart

Pick your interface below. Each one follows the same three steps: Install, Run, and Docs. The examples show both runtimes: a GGUF model from Hugging Face, ModelScope, or Docker Hub (llama_cpp) and a pre-compiled bundle from Qualcomm AI Hub (qairt, NPU).

CLI

!Windows ARM64 !Linux ARM64

Install

  • Windows ARM64 — download the installer, run it, then open a new terminal.
  • Linux ARM64 — one line, no sudo:
curl -fsSL https://qaihub-public-assets.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/qai-hub-geniex/install.sh | sh

Run — chat with any model in one line (drag in an image for VLMs):

# GGUF from Hugging Face → llama.cpp (NPU / GPU / CPU)
geniex infer google/gemma-4-E4B-it-qat-q4_0-gguf

GGUF from ModelScope → llama.cpp (NPU / GPU / CPU)

geniex infer https://modelscope.cn/models/Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B-GGUF

Pre-compiled bundle from Qualcomm AI Hub → Qualcomm AI Engine Direct (NPU)

geniex infer ai-hub-models/Qwen2.5-VL-7B-Instruct

GGUF from Docker Hub (https://hub.docker.com/u/ai) → llama.cpp (NPU / GPU / CPU)

geniex infer docker.io/ai/gemma3

📖 Docs — Install · Quickstart · Command reference

Python

!Windows ARM64 !Linux ARM64

Install

pip install geniex

Run — mirrors Hugging Face transformers (from_pretrained() → .generate()):

# GGUF from Hugging Face → llama.cpp
from geniex import AutoModelForCausalLM

model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained("unsloth/Qwen3.5-2B-GGUF", precision="Q4_0")

messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "What is 2+2?"}] prompt = model.tokenizer.apply_chat_template(messages, add_generation_prompt=True)

for chunk in model.generate(prompt, max_new_tokens=256, stream=True): print(chunk, end="", flush=True)

model.close()

# Pre-compiled bundle from Qualcomm AI Hub → Qualcomm AI Engine Direct (NPU)
from geniex import AutoModelForCausalLM

model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained("ai-hub-models/Qwen3-4B")

messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "What is 2+2?"}] prompt = model.tokenizer.apply_chat_template(messages, add_generation_prompt=True)

for chunk in model.generate(prompt, max_new_tokens=256, stream=True): print(chunk, end="", flush=True)

model.close()

📖 Docs — Install · Quickstart · API reference

OpenAI-compatible server

!Windows ARM64 !Linux ARM64

Install — ships with the CLI (install above).

Run — pull any model (GGUF or Qualcomm AI Hub bundle), then serve an OpenAI-compatible API:

geniex pull ai-hub-models/Qwen3-4B-Instruct-2507
geniex serve   # serves http://127.0.0.1:18181/v1
curl http://127.0.0.1:18181/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "ai-hub-models/Qwen3-4B-Instruct-2507",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Point any OpenAI client at http://127.0.0.1:18181/v1 — no code changes.

📖 Docs — Local server guide

Android (Kotlin / Java)

!Android

Install — add the SDK to your app module's build.gradle.kts:

dependencies {
    implementation("com.qualcomm.qti:geniex-android:0.4.0")
}

Run — fastest path is the sample app (chat UI, model picker for GGUF + Qualcomm AI Hub bundles, VLM support):

The Android demo app lives in qualcomm/ai-hub-apps. Clone it, open the sample app in Android Studio, and hit Run.

📖 Docs — Install · Quickstart · API reference

Docker

!Linux ARM64

Install

docker pull docker.io/qualcomm/geniex:latest

Run — the container wraps the CLI, so geniex infer … works exactly as above.

📖 Docs — Docker guide

C / C++ SDK

!Windows ARM64 !Linux ARM64 !Android

Install — link against the single C header sdk/include/geniex.h; every other interface is a thin wrapper over it.

📖 Docs — sdk/README.md · notes/build.md


Models

GenieX has two runtimes so you get broad model coverage and peak Snapdragon performance in one stack. Both LLMs and VLMs are supported.

| | llama.cpp (llama_cpp) | Qualcomm AI Engine Direct (qairt) | | --- | --- | --- | | Get models from | Hugging Face, ModelScope, or Docker Hub | Qualcomm AI Hub (pre-compiled) | | Format | GGUF | Per-chipset bundle | | Compute units | NPU · GPU · CPU | NPU only | | Best for | Bringing your own GGUF | Highest NPU performance |

Run geniex model list to browse every Qualcomm AI Hub bundle currently available for your chipset. Use geniex model list --all to include all chipsets. The catalogue changes independently of GenieX, so the CLI provides a more current list than a static table in this README.

The qairt runtime uses the QAIRT libraries bundled with GenieX by default. Advanced users can select another compatible installation with --qairt-lib or GENIEX_QAIRT_LIB. See QAIRT runtime selection for details.

See GenieX releases for new model families, runtime features, fixes, and complete changelogs.

For llama.cpp, pick the Q4_0 precision when prompted — it has the best Hexagon NPU support. See the Models guide → for the full list, precisions, and how to run a local model.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Before opening a PR, please read CONTRIBUTING.md for branch naming, commit / PR title format, pre-commit checks, and the FFI-update rule for public SDK headers.

| | | | --- | --- | | 🏗️ Build the CLI, SDK, or Python bindings | notes/build.md | | ▶️ Run & select compute units / pull models | notes/run.md | | 🏷️ Release — SemVer tags, channels, HTP signing | notes/release.md | | 📚 All developer docs | docs/README.md |

💬 Community & Contact

Questions, ideas, or want to show off what you built? Come say hi.

  • 💬 Slack — ask questions and chat with the community in real time.
  • 🐛 GitHub Issues — report a bug or request a feature.
  • 🔗 LinkedIn — follow Qualcomm AI Hub for news and updates.

Contributors

Thanks to everyone building GenieX 💙

GenieX contributors


📄 License

BSD 3-Clause — see LICENSE and NOTICE.

Use of this project is also subject to Qualcomm's Terms of Use.

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