Starting a Llama Stack

:maxdepth: 3
:hidden:

importing_as_library
building_distro
configuration

You can instantiate a Llama Stack in one of the following ways:

As a Library: this is the simplest, especially if you are using an external inference service. See Using Llama Stack as a Library
Docker: we provide a number of pre-built Docker containers so you can start a Llama Stack server instantly. You can also build your own custom Docker container.
Conda: finally, you can build a custom Llama Stack server using llama stack build containing the exact combination of providers you wish. We have provided various templates to make getting started easier.

Which templates / distributions to choose depends on the hardware you have for running LLM inference.

Do you have access to a machine with powerful GPUs? If so, we suggest:
- {dockerhub}distribution-remote-vllm (Guide)
- {dockerhub}distribution-meta-reference-gpu (Guide)
- {dockerhub}distribution-tgi (Guide)
Are you running on a "regular" desktop machine? If so, we suggest:
- {dockerhub}distribution-ollama (Guide)
Do you have an API key for a remote inference provider like Fireworks, Together, etc.? If so, we suggest:
- {dockerhub}distribution-together (Guide)
- {dockerhub}distribution-fireworks (Guide)
Do you want to run Llama Stack inference on your iOS / Android device If so, we suggest:
- iOS SDK
- Android (coming soon)

You can also build your own custom distribution.