List available models

Retrieves a list of models available on your system via the LM Studio REST API.

Usage

list_models(
  loaded = FALSE,
  type = c("llm", "embedding"),
  detailed = FALSE,
  quiet = NULL,
  host = "http://localhost:1234",
  token = NULL
)

Arguments

loaded: TRUE or FALSE. If TRUE, returns only currently loaded models. Defaults to FALSE. Any other value, NULL and NA included, aborts before the check for a running server.
type: Character vector. The types of models to include. Defaults to c("llm", "embedding"). It must hold one or more elements, and no element can be NA, empty, or whitespace only. Each element must be valid in its declared encoding and not marked "bytes". Any other value, NULL and a factor included, aborts before the check for a running server. A type that no model has, such as "vlm", matches nothing. A classed filter matches by its value, and a class method such as as.character() does not change the match.
detailed: TRUE or FALSE. Show all information about each model. Defaults to FALSE. Any other value, NULL and NA included, aborts before the check for a running server.
quiet: TRUE, FALSE, or NULL, the default. NULL follows the rlmstudio.quiet option. TRUE hides the message printed when no model is found, and FALSE prints it, also when the option is TRUE. Any other value, NA included, aborts before the check for a running server. Does not suppress the abort raised when the server is not running.
host: Character. The host address of the local server.
token: Character or NULL. An API token for a server that requires authentication. NULL reads the rlmstudio.token option and then the RLMSTUDIO_API_TOKEN environment variable. See rlmstudio_token.

Value

A data.frame containing information about the available models. By default, it includes columns for state, type, display_name, key, architecture, and size_gb. If detailed = TRUE, it returns a comprehensive data.frame including all raw metadata columns provided by the API. Returns an empty data.frame if no models match the criteria.

Server not running

Functions that call the LM Studio REST API open a TCP connection to the hostname and port named in host before they send the request. A function that checks its own arguments does that first, so a bad model, job_id, input, inputs, messages, schema, ttl, previous_response_id, or batch_size, a bad type of list_models() or list_instances(), a bad TRUE or FALSE argument such as simplify, logprobs, quiet, force, or store, a store on the "openai" route of lms_chat() or lms_chat_batch(), a stream in the ... of a chat function, a logprobs in the ... of lms_chat_batch() or lms_chat_native(), a value in the ... of lms_chat_batch() that lms_chat() reads as an argument already given, an instructions or messages in the ... of lms_chat() or lms_chat_batch() on the route where lms_chat() sets it, or a name, id, or type string that is not valid in its encoding or is marked as bytes, aborts with an argument message and no condition class even when the server is down. A condition of class rlmstudio_no_server is raised when that connection cannot be opened. A refused connection raises it. So do an address the package cannot parse and a hostname that does not resolve. An address that neither accepts nor refuses the connection also raises it. That case waits for the operating system to give up, which can take a minute. Start the server with lms_server_start(), or give host the address that your server listens on.

The check reads the port and nothing else. Any process holding that port accepts the connection, so the condition is not raised even though no LM Studio server is there. The call then does not raise rlmstudio_no_server, and what it does depends on what answers. On a status-200 body that does not parse as JSON, the chat functions, lms_embed(), list_models(), list_instances(), lms_load(), lms_download(), lms_download_status(), and lms_unload_all() raise rlmstudio_bad_response. lms_unload() does not read the body, so it can report success. A body that parses as JSON but has another shape can come back unchanged with simplify = FALSE. With simplify = TRUE, the chat functions and lms_embed() raise rlmstudio_bad_response for it. list_models() and list_instances() raise it for a model list with another shape, and so do lms_unload_all() and lms_load() without force = TRUE, which read that list. lms_chat_openai() and lms_chat_openresponses() raise it for such a model list too, with either setting of simplify, through the model lookup that a reply from another model starts. lms_chat() raises it through them. lms_load(), lms_download(), and lms_download_status() raise it for a reply of their own with another shape, such as {}. A process that does not answer in HTTP gives an httr2_failure error. Use lms_server_ready() for the stronger test: it asks the host for a model list and reports TRUE only for a model list that list_models() can read.

lms_chat_batch() checks the server once before its first input, and lms_chat() checks it again for each input. If that check finds the server gone during the batch, the batch aborts with rlmstudio_no_server, and no request goes out after that. The condition then carries a results field, a list as long as inputs. Its elements before the lost input hold the values that format = "list" returns for those inputs. The element of the lost input and every element after it are NULL. The check before the first input adds no results field. A connection that fails after the check passes, such as a server that stops during a request, raises an httr2_failure error instead. That error aborts the batch and carries no results field.

lms_embed() checks the server before each request, and a request carries at most batch_size inputs. If a check after the first request finds the server gone, the call aborts with rlmstudio_no_server. Once a request has succeeded, the condition carries a results field. With simplify = TRUE, results is a matrix with NA in each row whose embedding did not arrive. With simplify = FALSE, it is a list with one element per batch, with NULL in the element of the request that ended the call and in every element after it.

API failure

A condition of class rlmstudio_api_error is raised when a REST call returns a response that the wrapper treats as a failure. The condition carries a status field, which holds the HTTP response status as an integer. It also carries a code field. The field holds the string at error.code of the response body, such as "model_not_found". It is NULL when the body does not parse, when error is not a JSON object, or when its code is not one string.

lms_chat_batch() aborts on it when its status is 401, 403, or 404, and when its status is 400 and its code is "model_not_found". No request goes out after that input. The condition then carries a results field that follows the rule for a lost server in the "Server not running" section: its elements before the failed input hold the values that format = "list" returns for those inputs, and the element of the failed input and every element after it are NULL. For any other status, the element of the failed input holds the condition, or NA where the result is text, and the batch warns once and goes on. See the details of lms_chat_batch().

lms_embed() follows the same rule for each request. A 401, 403, or 404 aborts the call, and once a request has succeeded the condition carries a results field, a matrix or a list as the "Server not running" section describes. Any other status fails the inputs of that request alone, and the call warns once and goes on. If every request fails, the call aborts with the first condition. See the details of lms_embed().

Malformed response

A condition of class rlmstudio_bad_response is raised when the server answers with a status the wrapper accepts and a body the wrapper cannot read. It is raised where a wrapper checks the body before it reshapes it, rather than indexing straight into whatever arrived. Eleven functions raise it for a body they cannot read: lms_embed(), lms_chat(), lms_chat_native(), lms_chat_openresponses(), lms_chat_openai(), list_models(), list_instances(), lms_load(), lms_download(), lms_download_status(), and lms_unload_all(). lms_chat() raises it through the chat function it calls. lms_unload_all() raises it through list_models(), and so does lms_load() unless force = TRUE. lms_chat_batch() raises it only as rlmstudio_model_mismatch, which the "Reply from another model" section of lms_chat_openai() describes.

All eleven raise it for a status-200 body that does not parse as JSON, such as an HTML page from a proxy, JSON text that stops part way, or an empty body. In the functions that take simplify, the body is parsed before simplify is read, so the condition is raised whatever simplify is. The body is parsed by its content and not by its Content-Type header, so valid JSON under text/plain is read as JSON. The body is read as JSON text and nothing else. A body whose text is a URL or the path of a file does not parse, and the package does not fetch the URL or read the file. The message says that the body did not parse as JSON and that something other than LM Studio may be answering on the host. It does not hold the body text.

The condition carries a status field, which holds the HTTP response status as an integer. Today the status is always 200: each of these functions reads the body only after a 200, and reports every other status as an rlmstudio_api_error instead.

Malformed model list

list_models() also raises it for a status-200 model list with the wrong shape. lms_unload_all() and lms_load() without force = TRUE raise it through list_models(). lms_chat_openai() and lms_chat_openresponses() apply these rules to the model list of their model lookup, as the "Reply from another model" section of lms_chat_openai() describes. A model list must follow four rules. Each field is read by its exact name, so a field named keyX does not stand in for key.

The body is a JSON object whose models field is an array. The array can be empty.
Each entry of models is a JSON object. Its type and key are strings, and its loaded_instances is an array.
The size_bytes of an entry is a number, or absent, or null. So is its max_context_length.
Each entry of loaded_instances is a JSON object whose id is a string with a character that is not whitespace.

The rules are checked before the type and loaded filters, so an entry that the filters drop can still raise the condition. The message names the field or entry that broke a rule. lms_server_ready() applies the same rules and returns FALSE for a body that breaks one.

list_instances() applies the four rules too, and two more. They cover only an entry whose type is in its type argument and that has at least one loaded instance. The display_name of such an entry is a string, or absent, or null. The config of each of its instances is a JSON object, or absent, or null. list_models() and lms_server_ready() do not apply these two rules.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
lms_server_start()
lms_download("google/gemma-3-1b")
lms_load("google/gemma-3-1b")

# List all downloaded models
list_models()

# List only currently loaded models
list_models(loaded = TRUE)

# Get detailed information about loaded text models
list_models(loaded = TRUE, type = "llm", detailed = TRUE)
} # }