# tinker_cookbook.weights.build_hf_model

### [**tinker_cookbook.weights.build_hf_model**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L45)(*base_model*, *adapter_path*, *output_path*, *dtype*, *trust_remote_code*, *merge_strategy*, *dequantize*, *quantize*, *serving_format*, *device*)

Build a complete HuggingFace model from Tinker LoRA adapter weights.

Merges the LoRA adapter into the base model and saves the result as a standard HuggingFace model directory, compatible with vLLM, SGLang, TGI, or any HuggingFace-compatible inference framework.

**Parameters:**

- [**base_model**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L47) (*str*) – HuggingFace model name (e.g. `"Qwen/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B"`) or local path to a saved HuggingFace model.
- [**adapter_path**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L48) (*str*) – Local path to the Tinker adapter directory. Must contain `adapter_model.safetensors` and `adapter_config.json`.
- [**output_path**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L49) (*str*) – Directory where the merged model will be saved. Must not already exist.
- [**dtype**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L50) (*str*) – Data type for loading the base model. One of `"bfloat16"` (default), `"float16"`, or `"float32"`. Use `"float32"` for maximum precision during merge. Only used by `merge_strategy="full"`; the shard strategy preserves the on-disk dtype of each tensor.
- [**trust_remote_code**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L51) (*bool | None*) – Whether to trust remote code when loading HF models. Required for some newer model architectures (e.g. Qwen3.5). If `None` (default), falls back to the `HF_TRUST_REMOTE_CODE` environment variable, then `False`.
- [**merge_strategy**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L52) (*str*) – Controls how the merge is performed. `"auto"` (default) uses shard-by-shard processing for lower peak memory. `"shard"` forces shard-by-shard (fails if shards can't be resolved). `"full"` forces full-model loading (original behavior, higher memory but simpler).
- [**dequantize**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L53) (*bool*) – If `True`, dequantize quantized base model weights before merging. Not yet implemented for the standard merge path, but used internally by the quantized export path for models with native FP8 weights (e.g. DeepSeek V3.1).
- [**quantize**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L54) (*str | None*) – Output quantization method. Currently supported: `"experts-fp8"` — quantize routed expert weights to FP8 with blockwise scaling. Requires `serving_format` to be set. `None` (default) — no quantization.
- [**serving_format**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L55) (*str | None*) – Serving framework format for quantization metadata. Currently supported: `"vllm"` — write compressed-tensors config for vLLM. Required when `quantize` is set. `None` (default) — no serving-specific metadata.
- [**device**](https://github.com/thinking-machines-lab/tinker-cookbook/blob/main/tinker_cookbook/weights/_export/__init__.py#L56) (*str | None*) – Device for quantization math. `"cpu"` forces CPU, `"cuda"` or `"cuda:0"` etc. uses GPU for faster quantization. `None` (default) auto-detects: uses CUDA if available, otherwise CPU. Only affects the quantized export path (`quantize` is set).

**Returns:** *None*

**Raises:**

- FileNotFoundError: If adapter files are missing.
- FileExistsError: If output_path already exists.
- KeyError: If adapter config is malformed.
- ValueError: If tensor shapes are incompatible during merge, or
- if `dtype`, `merge_strategy`, `quantize`, or
- `serving_format` is not a recognized value, or if
- `quantize` and `serving_format` are not both set/unset.
- NotImplementedError: If `dequantize=True` on the standard merge path.

```python
from tinker_cookbook import weights
weights.build_hf_model(
base_model="Qwen/Qwen3-8B",
adapter_path="./adapter",
output_path="./merged_model",
)
```

## Referenced by

- [tinker_cookbook.weights.publish_to_hf_hub](https://tinker-docs.thinkingmachines.ai/cookbook/api-reference/weights/publish_to_hf_hub/index.md)