Installation¶

Install the ProgramAsWeights SDK from PyPI:

pip install programasweights --extra-index-url https://pypi.programasweights.com/simple/

The --extra-index-url flag provides pre-built binaries for llama-cpp-python, making installation fast (~10 seconds). Without it, the C++ backend compiles from source (~5 minutes).

Requirements¶

Python: 3.9 through 3.13.
Local runtime: llama-cpp-python is installed with the package.

GPU offload defaults to all available layers (n_gpu_layers=-1). Set PAW_GPU_LAYERS=0 to force CPU-only execution.

Anaconda on Linux: OpenMP / libgomp errors¶

If the build fails with libgomp-related errors, disable OpenMP:

CMAKE_ARGS="-DGGML_OPENMP=OFF" pip install programasweights --extra-index-url https://pypi.programasweights.com/simple/

Cache and configuration¶

Location	Purpose
`~/.cache/programasweights/`	Downloaded models and compiled programs
`~/.config/programasweights/`	Local configuration

Program bundles, runtime manifests, slug mappings, and base models are validated before use and installed with atomic cache updates. Built-in base models must match their pinned Hugging Face LFS byte size and SHA-256 digest and have GGUF magic; adapters must also be nontrivial GGUF files. To prohibit all network access, pass offline=True to paw.function/paw.prepare_program or set:

export PAW_OFFLINE=1

Offline mode fails clearly when any required validated bundle, runtime manifest, adapter, or base-model file is missing.

Verify the install¶

python -c "import programasweights as paw; print(paw.__version__)"

You should see the installed package version printed with no errors.