Models
mold supports 8 model families spanning different architectures, quality levels, and VRAM requirements.
Choosing a Model
| Need | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fast iterations | flux2-klein:q8 | 4 steps, ungated, Apache 2.0 |
| Best quality | flux-dev:q4 | 25 steps, excellent detail |
| Low VRAM (<8 GB) | flux2-klein:q4 | 2.6 GB, 4 steps |
| Classic ecosystem | sd15:fp16 or dreamshaper-v8 | Huge model library, ControlNet |
| Fast + great | z-image-turbo:q8 | 9 steps, excellent quality |
| SDXL | sdxl-turbo:fp16 | 4 steps, 1024x1024 |
VRAM Guide
| Model | Variant | Approx. VRAM | Speed | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
flux-schnell:q8 | Q8 | ~12 GB | Fast, 4 steps | Good |
flux-schnell:q6 | Q6 | ~14 GB | Fast, 4 steps | Better than Q8 |
flux-dev:q4 | Q4 | ~8 GB | Slow, 25 steps | Excellent |
flux-dev:q6 | Q6 | ~10 GB | Slow, 25 steps | Best FLUX quality/size trade |
flux-dev:bf16 | BF16 | ~24 GB | Slow, 25 steps | Best FLUX quality |
flux2-klein:q4 | Q4 | ~4 GB | Fast, 4 steps | Good for very small GPUs |
z-image-turbo:q8 | Q8 | ~10 GB | Fast, 9 steps | Excellent |
sdxl-turbo:fp16 | FP16 | ~10 GB | Very fast, 4 steps | Good |
sd15:fp16 | FP16 | ~6 GB | Medium, 25 steps | Good, broad ecosystem |
qwen-image:q4 | Q4 | ~14 GB | Slow, 50 steps | Strong |
If you are close to your card limit, start with a smaller quantization or use --offload. Full BF16 FLUX can run on 24 GB cards, but offloading may kick in automatically and slow generation down.
Model Management
bash
mold pull flux2-klein:q8 # Download a model
mold list # See what you have
mold info # Installation overview
mold info flux-dev:q4 # Model details + disk usage
mold rm dreamshaper-v8 # Remove a model
mold default flux-dev:q4 # Set default modelName Resolution
Bare names auto-resolve by trying :q8 → :fp16 → :bf16 → :fp8:
bash
mold run flux2-klein "a cat" # resolves to flux2-klein:q8
mold run sdxl-base "a cat" # resolves to sdxl-base:fp16HuggingFace Auth
Some model repos require authentication:
bash
export HF_TOKEN=hf_...
mold pull flux-dev:q4All Families
| Family | Native Resolution | Architecture |
|---|---|---|
| FLUX.2 | 1024x1024 | Qwen3 encoder, 4B transformer |
| FLUX.1 | 1024x1024 | Flow-matching transformer |
| SDXL | 1024x1024 | Dual-CLIP, UNet |
| SD 1.5 | 512x512 | CLIP-L, UNet |
| SD 3.5 | 1024x1024 | Triple encoder, MMDiT |
| Z-Image | 1024x1024 | Qwen3 encoder, 3D RoPE |
| Wuerstchen | 1024x1024 | 3-stage cascade, 42x compress |
| Qwen-Image | 1024x1024 | Qwen2.5-VL, flow-matching, CFG |
Each family page lists recommended dimensions for non-square aspect ratios. Using non-recommended dimensions will trigger a warning.