feat: Add .close() method to Llama class to explicitly free model from memory (#1513)

* feat: add explicit methods to free model

This commit introduces a `close` method to both `Llama` and `_LlamaModel`,
allowing users to explicitly free the model from RAM/VRAM.

The previous implementation relied on the destructor of `_LlamaModel` to free
the model. However, in Python, the timing of destructor calls is unclear—for
instance, the `del` statement does not guarantee immediate invocation of the
destructor.

This commit provides an explicit method to release the model, which works
immediately and allows the user to load another model without memory issues.

Additionally, this commit implements a context manager in the `Llama` class,
enabling the automatic closure of the `Llama` object when used with the `with`
statement.

* feat: Implement ContextManager in _LlamaModel, _LlamaContext, and _LlamaBatch

This commit enables automatic resource management by
implementing the `ContextManager` protocol in `_LlamaModel`,
`_LlamaContext`, and `_LlamaBatch`. This ensures that
resources are properly managed and released within a `with`
statement, enhancing robustness and safety in resource handling.

* feat: add ExitStack for Llama's internal class closure

This update implements ExitStack to manage and close internal
classes in Llama, enhancing efficient and safe resource
management.

* Use contextlib ExitStack and closing

* Explicitly free model when closing resources on server

---------

Co-authored-by: Andrei Betlen <abetlen@gmail.com>

llama_cpp/_internals.py

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from typing import (
     Sequence,
 )
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from contextlib import ExitStack
 
 import numpy as np
 import numpy.typing as npt
@@ -27,9 +28,6 @@ class _LlamaModel:
     """Intermediate Python wrapper for a llama.cpp llama_model.
     NOTE: For stability it's recommended you use the Llama class instead."""
 
-    _llama_free_model = None
-    # NOTE: this must be "saved" here to avoid exceptions when calling __del__
-
     def __init__(
         self,
         *,
@@ -40,8 +38,7 @@ class _LlamaModel:
         self.path_model = path_model
         self.params = params
         self.verbose = verbose
-
+        self._exit_stack = ExitStack()
-        self._llama_free_model = llama_cpp._lib.llama_free_model  # type: ignore
 
         self.model = None
 
@@ -56,11 +53,17 @@ class _LlamaModel:
         if self.model is None:
             raise ValueError(f"Failed to load model from file: {path_model}")
 
-    def __del__(self):
+        def free_model():
-        if self.model is not None and self._llama_free_model is not None:
+            if self.model is None:
-            self._llama_free_model(self.model)
+                return
+            llama_cpp.llama_free_model(self.model)
             self.model = None
 
+        self._exit_stack.callback(free_model)
+
+    def close(self):
+        self._exit_stack.close()
+
     def vocab_type(self) -> int:
         assert self.model is not None
         return llama_cpp.llama_vocab_type(self.model)
@@ -257,8 +260,6 @@ class _LlamaContext:
     """Intermediate Python wrapper for a llama.cpp llama_context.
     NOTE: For stability it's recommended you use the Llama class instead."""
 
-    _llama_free = None
-
     def __init__(
         self,
         *,
@@ -269,24 +270,28 @@ class _LlamaContext:
         self.model = model
         self.params = params
         self.verbose = verbose
+        self._exit_stack = ExitStack()
 
-        self._llama_free = llama_cpp._lib.llama_free  # type: ignore
         self.ctx = None
 
         assert self.model.model is not None
 
-        self.ctx = llama_cpp.llama_new_context_with_model(
+        self.ctx = llama_cpp.llama_new_context_with_model(self.model.model, self.params)
-            self.model.model, self.params
-        )
 
         if self.ctx is None:
             raise ValueError("Failed to create llama_context")
 
-    def __del__(self):
+        def free_ctx():
-        if self.ctx is not None and self._llama_free is not None:
+            if self.ctx is None:
-            self._llama_free(self.ctx)
+                return
+            llama_cpp.llama_free(self.ctx)
             self.ctx = None
 
+        self._exit_stack.callback(free_ctx)
+
+    def close(self):
+        self._exit_stack.close()
+
     def n_ctx(self) -> int:
         assert self.ctx is not None
         return llama_cpp.llama_n_ctx(self.ctx)
@@ -501,8 +506,6 @@ class _LlamaContext:
 
 
 class _LlamaBatch:
-    _llama_batch_free = None
-
     def __init__(
         self, *, n_tokens: int, embd: int, n_seq_max: int, verbose: bool = True
     ):
@@ -510,19 +513,24 @@ class _LlamaBatch:
         self.embd = embd
         self.n_seq_max = n_seq_max
         self.verbose = verbose
-
+        self._exit_stack = ExitStack()
-        self._llama_batch_free = llama_cpp._lib.llama_batch_free  # type: ignore
 
         self.batch = None
         self.batch = llama_cpp.llama_batch_init(
             self._n_tokens, self.embd, self.n_seq_max
         )
 
-    def __del__(self):
+        def free_batch():
-        if self.batch is not None and self._llama_batch_free is not None:
+            if self.batch is None:
-            self._llama_batch_free(self.batch)
+                return
+            llama_cpp.llama_batch_free(self.batch)
             self.batch = None
 
+        self._exit_stack.callback(free_batch)
+
+    def close(self):
+        self._exit_stack.close()
+
     def n_tokens(self) -> int:
         assert self.batch is not None
         return self.batch.n_tokens

llama_cpp/llama.py

@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ import ctypes
 import typing
 import fnmatch
 import warnings
+import contextlib
 import multiprocessing
+from types import TracebackType
 
 from typing import (
     List,
@@ -21,6 +23,7 @@ from typing import (
     Deque,
     Callable,
     Dict,
+    Type,
 )
 from collections import deque
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -350,9 +353,11 @@ class Llama:
         if not os.path.exists(model_path):
             raise ValueError(f"Model path does not exist: {model_path}")
 
-        self._model = _LlamaModel(
+        self._stack = contextlib.ExitStack()
+
+        self._model = self._stack.enter_context(contextlib.closing(_LlamaModel(
             path_model=self.model_path, params=self.model_params, verbose=self.verbose
-        )
+        )))
 
         # Override tokenizer
         self.tokenizer_ = tokenizer or LlamaTokenizer(self)
@@ -364,18 +369,18 @@ class Llama:
             self.context_params.n_ctx = self._model.n_ctx_train()
             self.context_params.n_batch = self.n_batch
 
-        self._ctx = _LlamaContext(
+        self._ctx = self._stack.enter_context(contextlib.closing(_LlamaContext(
             model=self._model,
             params=self.context_params,
             verbose=self.verbose,
-        )
+        )))
 
-        self._batch = _LlamaBatch(
+        self._batch = self._stack.enter_context(contextlib.closing(_LlamaBatch(
             n_tokens=self.n_batch,
             embd=0,
             n_seq_max=self.context_params.n_ctx,
             verbose=self.verbose,
-        )
+        )))
 
         if self.lora_path:
             if self._model.apply_lora_from_file(
@@ -1959,6 +1964,10 @@ class Llama:
         """Return the pooling type."""
         return self._ctx.pooling_type()
 
+    def close(self) -> None:
+        """Explicitly free the model from memory."""
+        self._stack.close()
+
     @staticmethod
     def logits_to_logprobs(
         logits: Union[npt.NDArray[np.single], List], axis: int = -1

llama_cpp/server/model.py

@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ class LlamaProxy:
             if self._current_model is not None:
                 return self._current_model
 
+        if self._current_model:
+            self._current_model.close()
         self._current_model = None
 
         settings = self._model_settings_dict[model]
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ class LlamaProxy:
 
     def free(self):
         if self._current_model:
+            self._current_model.close()
             del self._current_model
 
     @staticmethod