diff --git a/engine/controllers/models.cc b/engine/controllers/models.cc
index be6d45ceb..f812e896d 100644
--- a/engine/controllers/models.cc
+++ b/engine/controllers/models.cc
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ void Models::StartModel(
   }
 
   auto model_entry = model_service_->GetDownloadedModel(model_handle);
-  if (!model_entry.has_value()) {
+  if (!model_entry.has_value() && !params_override.bypass_model_check()) {
     Json::Value ret;
     ret["message"] = "Cannot find model: " + model_handle;
     auto resp = cortex_utils::CreateCortexHttpJsonResponse(ret);
@@ -393,7 +393,9 @@ void Models::StartModel(
     callback(resp);
     return;
   }
-  auto engine_name = model_entry.value().engine;
+  std::string engine_name = params_override.bypass_model_check()
+                                ? kLlamaEngine
+                                : model_entry.value().engine;
   auto engine_entry = engine_service_->GetEngineInfo(engine_name);
   if (engine_entry.has_error()) {
     Json::Value ret;
diff --git a/engine/services/model_service.cc b/engine/services/model_service.cc
index 03ea512e3..050dbaa4d 100644
--- a/engine/services/model_service.cc
+++ b/engine/services/model_service.cc
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 #include "utils/logging_utils.h"
 #include "utils/result.hpp"
 #include "utils/string_utils.h"
-#include "utils/json_helper.h"
 
 namespace {
 void ParseGguf(const DownloadItem& ggufDownloadItem,
@@ -577,28 +576,37 @@ cpp::result<bool, std::string> ModelService::StartModel(
   config::YamlHandler yaml_handler;
 
   try {
-    auto model_entry = modellist_handler.GetModelInfo(model_handle);
-    if (model_entry.has_error()) {
-      CTL_WRN("Error: " + model_entry.error());
-      return cpp::fail(model_entry.error());
-    }
-    yaml_handler.ModelConfigFromFile(
-        fmu::ToAbsoluteCortexDataPath(
-            fs::path(model_entry.value().path_to_model_yaml))
-            .string());
-    auto mc = yaml_handler.GetModelConfig();
-
-    httplib::Client cli(host + ":" + std::to_string(port));
+    Json::Value json_data;
+    // Currently we don't support download vision models, so we need to bypass check
+    if (!params_override.bypass_model_check()) {
+      auto model_entry = modellist_handler.GetModelInfo(model_handle);
+      if (model_entry.has_error()) {
+        CTL_WRN("Error: " + model_entry.error());
+        return cpp::fail(model_entry.error());
+      }
+      yaml_handler.ModelConfigFromFile(
+          fmu::ToAbsoluteCortexDataPath(
+              fs::path(model_entry.value().path_to_model_yaml))
+              .string());
+      auto mc = yaml_handler.GetModelConfig();
 
-    Json::Value json_data = mc.ToJson();
-    if (mc.files.size() > 0) {
-      // TODO(sang) support multiple files
-      json_data["model_path"] =
-          fmu::ToAbsoluteCortexDataPath(fs::path(mc.files[0])).string();
+      json_data = mc.ToJson();
+      if (mc.files.size() > 0) {
+        // TODO(sang) support multiple files
+        json_data["model_path"] =
+            fmu::ToAbsoluteCortexDataPath(fs::path(mc.files[0])).string();
+      } else {
+        LOG_WARN << "model_path is empty";
+        return false;
+      }
+      json_data["system_prompt"] = mc.system_template;
+      json_data["user_prompt"] = mc.user_template;
+      json_data["ai_prompt"] = mc.ai_template;
     } else {
-      LOG_WARN << "model_path is empty";
-      return false;
+      bypass_stop_check_set_.insert(model_handle);
     }
+    httplib::Client cli(host + ":" + std::to_string(port));
+
     json_data["model"] = model_handle;
     if (auto& cpt = params_override.custom_prompt_template;
         !cpt.value_or("").empty()) {
@@ -606,10 +614,6 @@ cpp::result<bool, std::string> ModelService::StartModel(
       json_data["system_prompt"] = parse_prompt_result.system_prompt;
       json_data["user_prompt"] = parse_prompt_result.user_prompt;
       json_data["ai_prompt"] = parse_prompt_result.ai_prompt;
-    } else {
-      json_data["system_prompt"] = mc.system_template;
-      json_data["user_prompt"] = mc.user_template;
-      json_data["ai_prompt"] = mc.ai_template;
     }
 
 #define ASSIGN_IF_PRESENT(json_obj, param_override, param_name) \
@@ -655,22 +659,28 @@ cpp::result<bool, std::string> ModelService::StopModel(
   config::YamlHandler yaml_handler;
 
   try {
-    auto model_entry = modellist_handler.GetModelInfo(model_handle);
-    if (model_entry.has_error()) {
-      CTL_WRN("Error: " + model_entry.error());
-      return cpp::fail(model_entry.error());
+    auto bypass_check = (bypass_stop_check_set_.find(model_handle) !=
+                         bypass_stop_check_set_.end());
+    Json::Value json_data;
+    if (!bypass_check) {
+      auto model_entry = modellist_handler.GetModelInfo(model_handle);
+      if (model_entry.has_error()) {
+        CTL_WRN("Error: " + model_entry.error());
+        return cpp::fail(model_entry.error());
+      }
+      yaml_handler.ModelConfigFromFile(
+          fmu::ToAbsoluteCortexDataPath(
+              fs::path(model_entry.value().path_to_model_yaml))
+              .string());
+      auto mc = yaml_handler.GetModelConfig();
+      json_data["engine"] = mc.engine;
     }
-    yaml_handler.ModelConfigFromFile(
-        fmu::ToAbsoluteCortexDataPath(
-            fs::path(model_entry.value().path_to_model_yaml))
-            .string());
-    auto mc = yaml_handler.GetModelConfig();
 
     httplib::Client cli(host + ":" + std::to_string(port));
-
-    Json::Value json_data;
     json_data["model"] = model_handle;
-    json_data["engine"] = mc.engine;
+    if (bypass_check) {
+      json_data["engine"] = kLlamaEngine;
+    }
     CTL_INF(json_data.toStyledString());
     assert(inference_svc_);
     auto ir =
@@ -678,6 +688,9 @@ cpp::result<bool, std::string> ModelService::StopModel(
     auto status = std::get<0>(ir)["status_code"].asInt();
     auto data = std::get<1>(ir);
     if (status == httplib::StatusCode::OK_200) {
+      if (bypass_check) {
+        bypass_stop_check_set_.erase(model_handle);
+      }
       return true;
     } else {
       CTL_ERR("Model failed to stop with status code: " << status);
diff --git a/engine/services/model_service.h b/engine/services/model_service.h
index 3270542c5..cdae6c6f1 100644
--- a/engine/services/model_service.h
+++ b/engine/services/model_service.h
@@ -8,14 +8,15 @@
 #include "services/inference_service.h"
 
 struct StartParameterOverride {
-std::optional<bool> cache_enabled;
-std::optional<int> ngl;
-std::optional<int> n_parallel;
-std::optional<int> ctx_len;
-std::optional<std::string> custom_prompt_template;
-std::optional<std::string> cache_type;
-std::optional<std::string> mmproj;
-std::optional<std::string> model_path;
+  std::optional<bool> cache_enabled;
+  std::optional<int> ngl;
+  std::optional<int> n_parallel;
+  std::optional<int> ctx_len;
+  std::optional<std::string> custom_prompt_template;
+  std::optional<std::string> cache_type;
+  std::optional<std::string> mmproj;
+  std::optional<std::string> model_path;
+  bool bypass_model_check() const { return mmproj.has_value(); }
 };
 class ModelService {
  public:
@@ -86,4 +87,5 @@ class ModelService {
 
   std::shared_ptr<DownloadService> download_service_;
   std::shared_ptr<services::InferenceService> inference_svc_;
+  std::unordered_set<std::string> bypass_stop_check_set_;
 };