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🆕 CrowdGPT v2.0 Changelog 🆕

• Revert back from broken weights (7 steps back on server)
• UI fixes
• client.py cryptographical signing
• Engram training enabled by default
• Fix freeze at startup on certain devices

What is CrowdGPT?

CrowdGPT is a project for training arbitrary big LLMs using volunteered compute.

Instead of one datacenter doing all the work, CrowdGPT distributes training across participating machines.

All of this working without money, API keys or any centralized GPU clusters.

How it works

1. The client asks the server for a task and is placed in a pool of 3 volunteers with compatible hardware.
2. It downloads the current weights from Hugging Face and trains on its shard of the dataset. All members of a pool get the same shard, seed and step count.
3. It uploads the weight delta. The server compares the 3 deltas of each pool, drops outliers, and merges the rest into the global model at the end of the round.
4. The new weights are published to Vxtzq/Crowd-v1 and the next round starts.

💻 Supported hardware

| Hardware | Backend | Notes | |---|---|---| | NVIDIA | CUDA | GTX 10xx and older need the cu126 PyTorch build. 8-bit optimizer via bitsandbytes | | AMD | ROCm or DirectML | ROCm on Linux. On Windows, ROCm for supported GPUs and DirectML for the rest | | Intel Arc | XPU | | | Apple Silicon | MPS | | | Anything else | CPU | Works, but slow |

The installer detects the hardware and installs the matching PyTorch build. Small GPUs work too: layers that don't fit in VRAM are kept in RAM and streamed in. Training the engram table adds about 1.4 GB of RAM (CROWDGPT_ENGRAM=0 turns it off).

⚡ Quick installation (one command)

For Linux/MacOS

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Vxtzq/CrowdGPT/main/install.sh | bash

For Windows

cmd /c "curl.exe -fsSL -o install.bat https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Vxtzq/CrowdGPT/main/install.bat && install.bat"

▶️ Running

The installer adds a crowdgpt command and a desktop / Start Menu shortcut. The app opens a window by default.

On a server or over SSH, run without a window:

crowdgpt --headless                      # reuses the login saved by the app
CROWDGPT_PASSWORD=... crowdgpt --headless --user NAME
crowdgpt --headless --anon               # train without an account
crowdgpt --headless --rounds 5           # stop after 5 rounds

crowdgpt --help lists all options. A few settings can also be set through environment variables:

| Variable | Description | |---|---| | CROWDGPT_TOKEN / CROWDGPT_PASSWORD | Credentials for headless runs | | CROWDGPT_VRAM_GB | Same as --vram-gb | | CROWDGPT_ENGRAM=0 | Don't train the engram table (same as --no-engram) |

Updates

The client checks for updates on start and between rounds. An update is only installed if its manifest is signed with the maintainer's key, so a compromised repository or account can't push code to clients. --no-update skips the check. Details in SECURITY.md.

🔧 Troubleshooting

• Stuck on "Pool matchmaking 1/3 (waiting for peers)": each round is trained by a pool of 3 clients with compatible hardware and precision. When few people are online, waiting is normal.
• GPU not used: check the Backend: line in the log. GTX 10xx and older need the cu126 PyTorch build (see requirements_cuda.txt). --backend forces a specific one.
• Out of memory: --vram-gb limits how much VRAM the client plans to use. Layers that don't fit are streamed from RAM.
• Files: login, settings and downloaded weights are in checkpoints/ next to client.py (~/.local/share/crowdgpt on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/CrowdGPT on macOS, %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrowdGPT on Windows).

⏳ Legacy installation (deprecated)

git clone https://github.com/Vxtzq/CrowdGPT.git
cd CrowdGPT

Install the dependencies for your hardware:

# NVIDIA
pip install -r requirements_cuda.txt
AMD
pip install -r requirements_rocm.txt
Windows / DirectML
pip install -r requirements_directml.txt
CPU / Apple Silicon
pip install -r requirements.txt

Then:

python client.py

🧠 Contribute

• Training data is curated through pull requests. See docs/DATA.md.
• Code: pull requests are welcome. CI checks that the Python files compile and that install.sh parses.
• Bugs: open an issue with the bug report template, and include the client version and the log.
• Server: the coordinator lives in Vxtzq/CrowdGPT-Server.

📄 License

GPL-3.0. See LICENSE.

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