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Custom Models & LoRA ​

mold works best when models come from the built-in manifest, but you can also point it at manual weight paths or set per-model defaults in config.toml.

Manual Model Entries ​

The [models] table lets you define or override model paths and defaults:

toml
[models."flux-dev:q4"]
transformer = "/srv/mold/models/flux1-dev-Q4_1.gguf"
vae = "/srv/mold/models/ae.safetensors"
t5_encoder = "/srv/mold/models/t5xxl_fp16.safetensors"
clip_encoder = "/srv/mold/models/clip_l.safetensors"
t5_tokenizer = "/srv/mold/models/t5.tokenizer.json"
clip_tokenizer = "/srv/mold/models/clip.tokenizer.json"
default_steps = 25
default_guidance = 3.5

This is useful when:

  • you keep weights outside the default Hugging Face cache layout
  • you want a custom local model definition
  • you want per-model defaults without repeating CLI flags

Path Override Environment Variables ​

If you need a one-off override, environment variables take precedence over the config file. See Configuration for the full list, including:

  • MOLD_TRANSFORMER_PATH
  • MOLD_VAE_PATH
  • MOLD_T5_PATH
  • MOLD_CLIP_PATH
  • MOLD_TEXT_TOKENIZER_PATH
  • MOLD_DECODER_PATH

These are primarily debugging and advanced deployment tools, not the normal path for day-to-day use.

LoRA Defaults ​

For FLUX models, you can keep a default adapter in config:

toml
[models."flux-dev:q4"]
lora = "/path/to/style.safetensors"
lora_scale = 0.8

At runtime, CLI flags still win:

bash
mold run flux-dev:q4 "portrait" --lora another-style.safetensors --lora-scale 1.1

LoRA Rules ​

  • FLUX only
  • .safetensors only
  • scale must be between 0.0 and 2.0
  • the server resolves the path on the machine doing inference

That last point matters for remote setups. If you call a remote mold serve, the LoRA file path must exist on the server host.

Auto-Pulled Models vs Manual Paths ​

If you use the built-in manifest:

  • mold pull downloads shared files once
  • mold list and mold info know the model metadata
  • checksums and .pulling markers work normally

If you bypass the manifest with custom paths:

  • you own the file layout
  • you own any upgrades or replacements
  • docs and tooling will know less about that model automatically

Good Defaults ​

For most users:

  1. use manifest-backed models first
  2. add per-model defaults in config.toml
  3. use env-path overrides only for debugging or special deployments