Small models on the NPU¶
The server can also run small models on the Ryzen AI NPU, beside the Flash
model and behind the same port: decisions (decider-0.8b), embeddings
(qwen3-embedding-0.6b), reranking (qwen3-reranker-0.6b), moderation
(qwen3guard-gen-0.6b, on /v1/moderations), text generation for
summaries and other short jobs (qwen3.5-2b, on /v1/chat/completions),
images up to 1024x1024 (flux2-klein-4b, on /v1/images/generations) and
speech to text (qwen3-asr-0.6b or qwen3-asr-1.7b, on
/v1/audio/transcriptions), or your own fine-tune of one of the first four.
Add the NPU to the Quickstart's command:
--device /dev/accel/accel0 -v /opt/xilinx/xrt:/opt/xilinx/xrt:ro \
-e HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=decider-0.8b,qwen3-embedding-0.6b,qwen3-reranker-0.6b \
A request picks a model by its model. The host needs the NPU driver and
XRT, and the GPU's fabric clock held at its top speed. GPU work and NPU work
at the same time can otherwise hang a Strix Halo machine. Run as root with
-v /sys:/host/sys and the server holds the clock itself while it runs.
Rootless, the unit in deploy/host/ holds it at every boot.
Without either, the server refuses to start and prints the commands for your
machine. The Flash model runs somewhat slower while the NPU works.
docs/NPU.md has the host's details, the request shapes, and
how to serve your own fine-tune. Leave HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS out and nothing
changes.