Model Management

Every device in the EdgeCoder network can hot-swap its active model at runtime. Model changes propagate through three layers: local persistence, BLE mesh re-advertisement, and coordinator heartbeat.

Model Catalog

A curated catalog at the EdgeCoder CDN lists available models with metadata:

• Model ID, display name, parameter size, quantization
• File size, download URL, SHA-256 checksum
• Platform compatibility (iOS, Node.js, or both)
• Supported languages, minimum memory requirement

iOS (llama.cpp)

iOS devices run inference locally via llama.cpp with GGUF model files:

• Models stored in Documents/Models/{modelId}.gguf
• Registry persisted to UserDefaults
• Single model in memory (iPhone RAM constraint)
• SwiftUI views: ModelPickerView, ModelLibraryView, ModelStatusBanner

Model Swap Flow

1. User taps a model in ModelLibraryView
2. LocalModelManager.activate(modelId) called
3. BLE advertisement updated (currentLoad = -1 during loading)
4. Current llama.cpp context freed, new GGUF loaded
5. BLE re-advertises with new capabilities
6. Next heartbeat includes updated model fields

Node.js (Ollama)

Node.js agents use Ollama for model management:

HTTP Endpoints (port 4302)

Method	Path	Purpose
POST	/model/swap	Swap active model (pulls if not installed)
GET	/model/status	Current model, param size, Ollama health
GET	/model/list	Installed + available models

Swap Response

{ "previous": "qwen2.5-coder:1.5b", "active": "qwen2.5-coder:7b", "status": "ready", "paramSize": 7 }

BLE Re-Advertisement

When a model changes, the BLE Capabilities characteristic pushes the update to connected peers. During loading, currentLoad = -1 signals unavailability — the router skips this peer until loading completes.

Network-Wide Capability Advertisement

Agents include activeModel and activeModelParamSize in heartbeats. Coordinators aggregate this into capability summaries and gossip them to federation peers every 60 seconds via capability_summary mesh messages.

Query GET /mesh/capabilities?model=qwen2.5-coder:7b to find coordinators with matching agents.

P2P Model Distribution

Devices that have a model can seed it to peers, reducing CDN dependency:

1. BLE peer (fastest, free) — nearby device streams GGUF chunks
2. Agent mesh (medium speed) — coordinator brokers transfer between agents
3. CDN download (fallback) — always available

All peer-distributed models are verified against the CDN catalog's SHA-256 checksum.

Seed Credits

Seeders earn distribution credits proportional to file size, with a rarity bonus when fewer seeders are available.