Backpack Runtime v0.1.0-alpha.1

Backpack Runtime v0.1.0-alpha.1

This is the first public alpha of Backpack Runtime: a standalone CLI and loopback HTTP service for running Backpack-packaged open models locally or through experimental SSH compute. Expect rough edges and API or behavior changes before beta.

Platform status

• Windows x64: supported and execution-validated alpha.
• Linux x64: experimental preview; the core GGUF path is release-qualified separately from Windows audio.
• macOS arm64: experimental preview build; real model execution is not yet validated.

Included

• Managed GGUF chat with SmolLM2 135M/1.7B and Qwen2.5 0.5B validated on Windows.
• Whisper Large v3 Turbo transcription, Qwen3-ASR 0.6B, and Kokoro 82M speech on Windows x64.
• Automatic, versioned installation of llama.cpp, whisper.cpp, uv, Python, and isolated runtime dependencies when required.
• SHA-256 verification for model packages, native runtimes, Python locks, and release archives.
• Persistent loopback runtime service, managed sessions, streaming OpenAI-compatible chat/audio endpoints, and structured Backpack management APIs.
• Experimental SSH compute, split-GGUF/projector contracts (including GLM-5.3 Flash preflight coverage), and media-job APIs.

Install

Download and review the version-pinned installer before running it. Do not pipe it directly to a shell.

Invoke-WebRequest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/backpack-run/backpack-runtime/v0.1.0-alpha.1/scripts/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
Get-Content .\install.ps1
powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1 -Version v0.1.0-alpha.1

curl --fail --proto '=https' --proto-redir '=https' --tlsv1.2 -o install.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/backpack-run/backpack-runtime/v0.1.0-alpha.1/scripts/install.sh
sh install.sh v0.1.0-alpha.1

First inference

backpack doctor
backpack pull smollm2-135m
backpack run smollm2-135m --prompt "Explain Backpack Runtime in one sentence."

Known limitations

• Qwen3-ASR and Kokoro managed Python environments are Windows x64 CPU only.
• Whisper Large v3 Turbo is execution-validated on Windows CPU, but even short files can take many minutes on consumer CPUs. Treat it as a correctness path, not a low-latency path.
• Linux and macOS are preview platforms; macOS inference is unvalidated.
• SSH has deterministic automated coverage but no maintained real-host qualification yet.
• Vision, large split GGUF models, Z-Image, and Wan are not supported release features.
• GLM-5.3 Flash is cataloged for contract/preflight inspection only; its 193.8 GB GGUF has no compatible execution-validated managed runtime in this release.
• The API is single-user and loopback-only; authentication and public network binding are not implemented.
• Release archives have SHA-256 checksums but are not yet independently signed.
• On Windows PowerShell 5.1, the alpha.1 installer requires a clean destination; remove the installed binary before reinstalling the same version. This is fixed on main for the next prerelease.

Report reproducible alpha bugs through GitHub Issues. Include sanitized backpack doctor --json output. Report security vulnerabilities privately through GitHub Security Advisories.