A question that comes up a lot: "the first time I load a model it takes a while, then it's instant. Why?" The engine compiles small GPU programs (shaders) for your specific hardware the first time it runs. That compile used to happen on every load, which meant waiting a minute or more each time. Those compiled shaders are now written to disk and reused. So: First ever load on this machine: a few seconds of compiling. Every load after: near-instant, including different models and after a reboot. If your first load is still slow every single time, that's worth reporting — it usually means the cache directory isn't writable. How long does a load take on your setup, cold vs. warm?

lizard-native is the engine that runs your model on your graphics card. It loads the model's weights into GPU memory once and keeps them there. That's the whole trick: the model stays resident, so after the first load, answers start almost immediately instead of re-reading gigabytes from disk every time. Lizard chooses it automatically when: you have a DirectX 12 graphics card (including built-in Intel Iris Xe), and the model actually fits in that card's memory alongside everything else running. What you'll notice: First load takes a few seconds while shaders compile. That result is cached on disk, so every load after is near-instant — even for a different model, or after restarting. Memory use is lower than you'd expect for the file size, because of how the weights are packed. If it isn't being used, it's usually one of two things: no DirectX 12 adapter, or the model is bigger than the card. Lizard then hands the work to Caterpillar instead — that's by design, not a failure. More detail: https://lizard-llm.qendryx.com/product.html What card are you running, and what does your first-load time look like?