diff --git a/llama_cpp/llama.py b/llama_cpp/llama.py
index 9fc4ec2..1226545 100644
--- a/llama_cpp/llama.py
+++ b/llama_cpp/llama.py
@@ -1885,8 +1885,9 @@ class Llama:
         cls,
         repo_id: str,
         filename: Optional[str],
-        local_dir: Optional[Union[str, os.PathLike[str]]] = ".",
+        local_dir: Optional[Union[str, os.PathLike[str]]] = None,
         local_dir_use_symlinks: Union[bool, Literal["auto"]] = "auto",
+        cache_dir: Optional[Union[str, os.PathLike[str]]] = None,
         **kwargs: Any,
     ) -> "Llama":
         """Create a Llama model from a pretrained model name or path.
@@ -1945,18 +1946,29 @@ class Llama:
         subfolder = str(Path(matching_file).parent)
         filename = Path(matching_file).name
 
-        local_dir = "."
-
         # download the file
         hf_hub_download(
             repo_id=repo_id,
-            local_dir=local_dir,
             filename=filename,
             subfolder=subfolder,
+            local_dir=local_dir,
             local_dir_use_symlinks=local_dir_use_symlinks,
+            cache_dir=cache_dir,
         )
 
-        model_path = os.path.join(local_dir, filename)
+        if local_dir is None:
+            model_path = hf_hub_download(
+                repo_id=repo_id,
+                filename=filename,
+                subfolder=subfolder,
+                local_dir=local_dir,
+                local_dir_use_symlinks=local_dir_use_symlinks,
+                cache_dir=cache_dir,
+                local_files_only=True,
+
+            )
+        else:
+            model_path = os.path.join(local_dir, filename)
 
         return cls(
             model_path=model_path,