> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://forge-64364c0e.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Supported Formats

> GGUF, SafeTensors, and dataset format support across all ForgeAI modules

# Supported Formats

ForgeAI works with two primary model formats (**GGUF** and **SafeTensors**) and four dataset formats (**JSON**, **JSONL**, **CSV**, **Parquet**).

## Model Formats

### GGUF

The **GGUF** (GPT-Generated Unified Format) is the standard format for llama.cpp and its ecosystem.

**Characteristics:**

* Single file containing weights, metadata, and tokenizer
* Supports quantized dtypes (Q2\_K through Q8\_0, plus F16/F32)
* Used by llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio, KoboldCpp

**ForgeAI support:**

| Module   | Support                         |
| -------- | ------------------------------- |
| Load     | Single file                     |
| Inspect  | Full analysis with capabilities |
| Compress | Quantize to any level           |
| Hub      | Download from HuggingFace       |
| Convert  | Output format                   |
| Training | Fine-tune and surgery           |
| M-DNA    | Parent and output               |
| Test     | Via llama.cpp                   |

### SafeTensors

**SafeTensors** is HuggingFace's format for storing model weights safely and efficiently.

**Characteristics:**

* Typically paired with `config.json` and tokenizer files in a directory
* Large models are sharded across multiple `.safetensors` files
* Supports F16, BF16, F32 dtypes
* Used by HuggingFace Transformers, vLLM, ExLlamaV2, MLX

**ForgeAI support:**

| Module   | Support                               |
| -------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Load     | Single file or sharded folder         |
| Inspect  | Full analysis with capabilities       |
| Compress | Not supported (convert to GGUF first) |
| Hub      | Download from HuggingFace             |
| Convert  | Input format (→ GGUF)                 |
| Training | Fine-tune and surgery                 |
| M-DNA    | Parent and output                     |
| Test     | Via HuggingFace Transformers          |

### Folder Structure

SafeTensors models from HuggingFace typically have this structure:

```
model-name/
├── config.json              # Architecture config (required)
├── tokenizer.json           # Tokenizer data
├── tokenizer_config.json    # Tokenizer settings
├── tokenizer.model          # SentencePiece model (some architectures)
├── special_tokens_map.json  # Special token definitions
├── generation_config.json   # Generation defaults
├── model.safetensors        # Weights (single file)
└── model-00001-of-00003.safetensors  # Or sharded
```

### Model Format Comparison

| Feature      | GGUF             | SafeTensors         |
| ------------ | ---------------- | ------------------- |
| File count   | Single file      | Multiple files      |
| Metadata     | Embedded in file | Separate JSON files |
| Tokenizer    | Embedded         | Separate files      |
| Quantization | Native (Q2–Q8)   | F16/BF16/F32 only   |
| Sharding     | No               | Yes                 |
| Ecosystem    | llama.cpp        | HuggingFace         |

## Dataset Formats

### JSON

Array of objects in a single file.

```json theme={null}
[
  {"instruction": "...", "input": "...", "output": "..."},
  {"instruction": "...", "input": "...", "output": "..."}
]
```

### JSONL

One JSON object per line (JSON Lines format).

```
{"instruction": "...", "input": "...", "output": "..."}
{"instruction": "...", "input": "...", "output": "..."}
```

### CSV

Comma-separated values with a header row.

```
instruction,input,output
"...", "...", "..."
```

### Parquet

Apache Parquet columnar binary format. Most HuggingFace datasets use this format. ForgeAI reads Parquet natively in Rust using Apache Arrow — no Python required.

### Dataset Format Support

| Module          | JSON | JSONL | CSV | Parquet |
| --------------- | :--: | :---: | :-: | :-----: |
| **DataStudio**  |   ✓  |   ✓   |  ✓  |    ✓    |
| **Training**    |   ✓  |   ✓   |  ✓  |    ✓    |
| **HuggingFace** |   ✓  |   ✓   |  ✓  |    ✓    |

### Dataset Template Detection

ForgeAI auto-detects these common dataset templates:

| Template              | Key Columns                |
| --------------------- | -------------------------- |
| **Alpaca**            | instruction, input, output |
| **ShareGPT**          | conversations              |
| **ChatML**            | messages                   |
| **DPO**               | prompt, chosen, rejected   |
| **Text**              | text                       |
| **Prompt/Completion** | prompt, completion         |