Local LLMs need shared model storage
A Reddit user on r/LocalLLaMA asks how to stop local AI tools on a MacBook Pro from downloading the same large models into separate folders. The core complaint is simple: once you test multiple apps, duplicate caches start burning through disk space.
This is one of those unglamorous local-AI problems that matters more than it sounds. The ecosystem already has partial answers, but no universal storage convention, so users end up stitching together a workaround.
- –Ollama already supports moving its model store with `OLLAMA_MODELS`.
- –LM Studio also exposes a configurable models directory, so a single canonical store is viable in at least some stacks.
- –Where apps do not support a shared path, symlinks or a shared mount are the practical workaround, though they can be brittle.
- –The best long-term design is a shared blob store with per-app metadata, not duplicated weights per app.
DISCOVERED
63d ago
2026-03-26
PUBLISHED
63d ago
2026-03-26
RELEVANCE
AUTHOR
LyckeMi