Instructions to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with libraries, inference providers, notebooks, and local apps. Follow these links to get started.

Notebooks
Google Colab
Kaggle
Local Apps Settings

How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with llama.cpp:

Install (macOS, Linux)

curl -LsSf https://llama.app/install.sh | sh
# Start a local OpenAI-compatible server with a web UI:
llama serve -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M
# Run inference directly in the terminal:
llama cli -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Install from WinGet (Windows)

winget install llama.cpp
# Start a local OpenAI-compatible server with a web UI:
llama serve -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M
# Run inference directly in the terminal:
llama cli -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Use pre-built binary

# Download pre-built binary from:
# https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp/releases
# Start a local OpenAI-compatible server with a web UI:
./llama-server -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M
# Run inference directly in the terminal:
./llama-cli -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Build from source code

git clone https://github.com/ggerganov/llama.cpp.git
cd llama.cpp
cmake -B build
cmake --build build -j --target llama-server llama-cli
# Start a local OpenAI-compatible server with a web UI:
./build/bin/llama-server -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M
# Run inference directly in the terminal:
./build/bin/llama-cli -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Use Docker

docker model run hf.co/bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

LM Studio
Jan

vLLM

How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with vLLM:

Install from pip and serve model

# Install vLLM from pip:
pip install vllm
# Start the vLLM server:
vllm serve "bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF"
# Call the server using curl (OpenAI-compatible API):
curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/v1/chat/completions" \
	-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
	--data '{
		"model": "bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF",
		"messages": [
			{
				"role": "user",
				"content": [
					{
						"type": "text",
						"text": "Describe this image in one sentence."
					},
					{
						"type": "image_url",
						"image_url": {
							"url": "https://cdn.britannica.com/61/93061-050-99147DCE/Statue-of-Liberty-Island-New-York-Bay.jpg"
						}
					}
				]
			}
		]
	}'

Use Docker

docker model run hf.co/bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Ollama
How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with Ollama:
```
ollama run hf.co/bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M
```
Unsloth Desktop

How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with Pi:

Start the llama.cpp server

# Install llama.cpp:
brew install llama.cpp
# Start a local OpenAI-compatible server:
llama serve -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Configure the model in Pi

# Install Pi:
npm install -g @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent
# Add to ~/.pi/agent/models.json:
{
  "providers": {
    "llama-cpp": {
      "baseUrl": "http://localhost:8080/v1",
      "api": "openai-completions",
      "apiKey": "none",
      "models": [
        {
          "id": "bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Run Pi

# Start Pi in your project directory:
pi

Docker Model Runner
How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with Docker Model Runner:
```
docker model run hf.co/bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M
```

Lemonade

How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with Lemonade:

Pull the model

# Download Lemonade from https://lemonade-server.ai/
lemonade pull bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Run and chat with the model

lemonade run user.MiniMax-M3-GGUF-Q4_K_M

List all available models

lemonade list

Hermes Agent

How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with Hermes Agent:

Start the llama.cpp server

# Install llama.cpp:
brew install llama.cpp
# Start a local OpenAI-compatible server:
llama serve -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Configure Hermes

# Install Hermes:
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash
hermes setup
# Point Hermes at the local server:
hermes config set model.provider custom
hermes config set model.base_url http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1
hermes config set model.default bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Run Hermes

hermes

Atomic Chat

OpenClaw

How to use bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF with OpenClaw:

Start the llama.cpp server

# Install llama.cpp:
brew install llama.cpp
# Start a local OpenAI-compatible server:
llama serve -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

Configure OpenClaw

# Install OpenClaw:
npm install -g openclaw@latest
# Register the local server and set it as the default model:
openclaw onboard --non-interactive --mode local \
  --auth-choice custom-api-key \
  --custom-base-url http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1 \
  --custom-model-id "bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M" \
  --custom-provider-id llama-cpp \
  --custom-compatibility openai \
  --custom-text-input \
  --accept-risk \
  --skip-health

Run OpenClaw

openclaw agent --local --agent main --message "Hello from Hugging Face"

Llamacpp imatrix Quantizations of MiniMax-M3 by MiniMaxAI

Using llama.cpp release b10141 for quantization.

Original model: https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3

Model details:

Parameter count: 427B
Input support: text, image (with mmproj file) - details
MTP: no
imatrix: yes - details

How to run

Prompt format

]~!b[]~b]system
Your model version is MiniMax-M3, developed by MiniMax. Knowledge cutoff: January 2026. Founded in early 2022, MiniMax is a global AI foundation model company committed to advancing the frontiers of AI towards AGI.

<thinking_instructions>
You have a thinking capability that allows you to reason step by step before responding. When thinking is enabled, wrap your reasoning in <mm:think></mm:think> tags before your response. When thinking is disabled, begin your response directly after the </mm:think> prefix. When thinking is adaptive, decide on your own whether to think for the current turn.
Current thinking mode: adaptive. You are encouraged to think for complex decision-making, multi-step reasoning, or when analyzing function/tool results.
</thinking_instructions>[e~[
]~b]developer
{system_prompt}[e~[
]~b]user
{prompt}[e~[
]~b]ai

Don't know which to choose? Grab Q4_K_M (261.28GB) - usually a good mix of size and performance. Download instructions available here

Available files:

Filename	Quant type	File Size	Split	Description
MiniMax-M3-Q8_0.gguf	Q8_0	453.61GB	true	Extremely high quality, generally unneeded but max available quant.
MiniMax-M3-Q6_K.gguf	Q6_K	369.40GB	true	Very high quality, near perfect, recommended.
MiniMax-M3-Q5_K_M.gguf	Q5_K_M	305.35GB	true	High quality, recommended.
MiniMax-M3-Q5_K_S.gguf	Q5_K_S	295.23GB	true	High quality, recommended.
MiniMax-M3-Q4_1.gguf	Q4_1	268.89GB	true	Legacy format, similar performance to Q4_K_S but with improved tokens/watt on Apple silicon.
MiniMax-M3-Q4_K_M.gguf	Q4_K_M	261.28GB	true	Good quality, default size for most use cases, recommended.
MiniMax-M3-Q4_K_S.gguf	Q4_K_S	251.36GB	true	Slightly lower quality with more space savings, recommended.
MiniMax-M3-Q4_0.gguf	Q4_0	243.64GB	true	Legacy format, kept for compatibility with older tools.
MiniMax-M3-IQ4_NL.gguf	IQ4_NL	242.75GB	true	Similar to IQ4_XS, but slightly larger.
MiniMax-M3-IQ4_XS.gguf	IQ4_XS	229.69GB	true	Decent quality, smaller than Q4_K_S with similar performance, recommended.
MiniMax-M3-Q3_K_XL.gguf	Q3_K_XL	206.05GB	true	Uses Q8_0 for embed and output weights. Lower quality but usable, good for low RAM availability.
MiniMax-M3-IQ3_M.gguf	IQ3_M	205.52GB	true	Medium-low quality, new method with decent performance comparable to Q3_K_M.
MiniMax-M3-Q3_K_L.gguf	Q3_K_L	204.97GB	true	Lower quality but usable, good for low RAM availability.
MiniMax-M3-Q3_K_M.gguf	Q3_K_M	196.61GB	true	Low quality.
MiniMax-M3-IQ3_XS.gguf	IQ3_XS	196.36GB	true	Lower quality, new method with decent performance, slightly better than Q3_K_S.
MiniMax-M3-Q3_K_S.gguf	Q3_K_S	187.25GB	true	Low quality, not recommended.
MiniMax-M3-IQ3_XXS.gguf	IQ3_XXS	180.01GB	true	Lower quality, new method with decent performance, comparable to Q3 quants.
MiniMax-M3-Q2_K_L.gguf	Q2_K_L	153.09GB	true	Uses Q8_0 for embed and output weights. Very low quality but surprisingly usable.
MiniMax-M3-Q2_K.gguf	Q2_K	151.89GB	true	Very low quality but surprisingly usable.
MiniMax-M3-IQ2_M.gguf	IQ2_M	145.58GB	true	Relatively low quality, uses SOTA techniques to be surprisingly usable.
MiniMax-M3-IQ2_S.gguf	IQ2_S	132.14GB	true	Low quality, uses SOTA techniques to be usable.
MiniMax-M3-IQ2_XS.gguf	IQ2_XS	129.52GB	true	Low quality, uses SOTA techniques to be usable.
MiniMax-M3-IQ2_XXS.gguf	IQ2_XXS	116.61GB	true	Very low quality, uses SOTA techniques to be usable.
MiniMax-M3-IQ1_M.gguf	IQ1_M	100.74GB	true	Extremely low quality, not recommended.
MiniMax-M3-IQ1_S.gguf	IQ1_S	90.53GB	true	Extremely low quality, not recommended.

Downloading using the Hugging Face CLI

Click to view download instructions

First, make sure you have the Hugging Face CLI installed:

pip install -U "huggingface_hub[cli]"

The files marked true in the Split column above are stored as multiple parts in a folder. To download all the parts to a local folder, run:

hf download bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF --include "MiniMax-M3-Q8_0/*" --local-dir ./

You can either specify a new local-dir (MiniMax-M3-Q8_0) or download them all in place (./)

How to run

These quants run with llama.cpp - installable in one line via llama.app:

curl -LsSf https://llama.app/install.sh | sh
llama-server -hf bartowski/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M

llama-server includes a built-in chat web UI, served at http://localhost:8080 by default.

These quants were made with llama.cpp release b10141 - if this model's architecture is newly supported, you'll need that release or newer to run them.

They also work in: LM Studio · koboldcpp · ramalama · Jan AI · Text Generation Web UI · LoLLMs · Atomic Chat

Multimodal

This model supports multimodal input. Alongside the quants, this repo includes the multimodal projector files mmproj-MiniMax-M3-f16.gguf and mmproj-MiniMax-M3-bf16.gguf, which pair with any quant above.

llama.cpp downloads the mmproj automatically when using -hf as shown above; if you're loading files manually, pass it with --mmproj.

imatrix

All quants made using imatrix option with dataset from here. The imatrix is available here: MiniMax-M3-imatrix.gguf.

Embed/output weights

Some of these quants (Q3_K_XL, Q4_K_L etc) are the standard quantization method with the embeddings and output weights quantized to Q8_0 instead of what they would normally default to.

ARM/AVX information

llama.cpp automatically "repacks" weights into an interleaved layout at load time for faster inference on ARM and AVX machines - details in this PR. This once required downloading special Q4_0_4_4/4_8/8_8 files; those are long gone. Online repacking now covers Q4_0, IQ4_NL, and most K-quants, so no special quant choice is needed for CPU inference.

Which file should I choose?

Click here for details

An older (early 2024) but still useful write-up with charts comparing quant performances is provided by Artefact2 here

The first thing to figure out is how big a model you can run. To do this, you'll need to figure out how much RAM and/or VRAM you have.

If you want your model running as FAST as possible, you'll want to fit the whole thing on your GPU's VRAM. Aim for a quant with a file size 1-2GB smaller than your GPU's total VRAM.

If you want the absolute maximum quality, add both your system RAM and your GPU's VRAM together, then similarly grab a quant with a file size 1-2GB Smaller than that total.

Hugging Face can also do this math for you: add your hardware in your Local Apps settings and the model page will show which files fit.

Next, you'll need to decide if you want to use an 'I-quant' or a 'K-quant'.

If you don't want to think too much, grab one of the K-quants. These are in format 'QX_K_X', like Q5_K_M.

If you want to get more into the weeds, you can check out this extremely useful feature chart:

llama.cpp feature matrix

But basically, if you're aiming for below Q4, and you're running cuBLAS (Nvidia) or rocBLAS (AMD), you should look towards the I-quants. These are in format IQX_X, like IQ3_M. These are newer and offer better performance for their size.

These I-quants can also be used on CPU, but will be slower than their K-quant equivalent, so speed vs performance is a tradeoff you'll have to decide.

Credits

Thank you kalomaze and Dampf for assistance in creating the imatrix calibration dataset.

Thank you ZeroWw for the inspiration to experiment with embed/output.

Want to support my work? Visit my ko-fi page here: https://ko-fi.com/bartowski

Downloads last month: 5,446

GGUF

Model size

426B params

Architecture

minimax-m3

Hardware compatibility

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