HF_ENDPOINT · Docs · Allternit Freeweights

Use stock Hugging Face tools against Freeweights with one environment variable, what works, and what does not.

The model routes follow the Hugging Face Hub shape, so the Hugging Face tools can download from Freeweights.

Set it up#

export HF_ENDPOINT=https://freeweights.allternit.com
export HF_HUB_DISABLE_IMPLICIT_TOKEN=1
hf download BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5 --local-dir bge-small

In Python, hf_hub_download(..., endpoint="https://freeweights.allternit.com") works the same way.

What works#

We tested against the Stage 0 Worker on 2026-11-14 with BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5, with no token sent. After the fixes in that round:

Client	Result
`hf download <repo>` (full repository)	Pass. 14 of 14 files matched the manifest.
`huggingface_hub.snapshot_download`	Pass.
`hf download <repo> <file>` and `hf_hub_download`	Pass.
curl `-L` on a resolve URL	Pass. Two redirects.
aria2c, small and large files	Pass. Range requests work through the redirect.
`fw.py`	Pass.

Known limits#

Not tested yet: transformers from_pretrained through the endpoint, and torrent web seeds (no torrents exist at Stage 0).
Hashes are not checked by the client. Run fw.py verify afterward.
Bytes come from the source. At Stage 0 the resolve route redirects to the publisher at the pinned commit. Hugging Face still serves the bytes for From source models.
HEAD on a file answers from the manifest. It does not redirect, because a redirect made Xet clients follow it to Hugging Face and fail.
Xet: the Worker sends no Xet headers, so clients use plain HTTP. The read-token route passes the public token request through for clients that ask.
Write operations are not supported. No uploads, no likes, no repo creation. Uploads open at Stage 2.
Only listed models. Anything else answers 404. A removed model answers 451. A model with no live source answers 404 model_wanted.
Probes: /api/agent-harnesses returns 404. Clients tolerate this.

Tokens#

A request that carries a Hugging Face token (an hf_ prefix) in any header or query is refused with 401 hf_token_rejected. We never log, store or forward it. Public reads need no token. Later stages add alt_ tokens for accounts.