Phi 4 — Microsoft's Small Models, Big Results

Phi models prove you don't need 70B parameters for great results. Phi-4 matches much larger models on reasoning benchmarks while running on hardware as modest as an 8GB MacBook Air. Route them across your fleet for even better throughput.

Supported Phi models

Quick start

pip install ollama-herd    # PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/ollama-herd/
herd                       # start the router (port 11435)
herd-node                  # run on each device — finds the router automatically

No models are downloaded during installation. All pulls require user confirmation.

Why Phi for small devices

A Mac Mini with 16GB RAM can run Phi-4 (14B) with room to spare. A MacBook Air with 8GB runs Phi-4-mini comfortably. These models start in seconds and respond fast — ideal for devices that can't load a 70B model.

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(base_url="http://localhost:11435/v1", api_key="not-needed")

# Phi-4 for reasoning
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="phi4",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Solve: if 3x + 7 = 22, what is x?"}],
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Phi-4-mini — fastest response times

curl http://localhost:11435/api/chat -d '{
  "model": "phi4-mini",
  "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Summarize this in 3 bullet points: ..."}],
  "stream": false
}'

OpenAI-compatible API

curl http://localhost:11435/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "phi4", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Write a unit test for a login function"}]}'

Ideal hardware pairings

Cross-platform: These are example configurations. Any device (Mac, Linux, Windows) with equivalent RAM works. The fleet router runs on all platforms.

Monitor your fleet

# What's loaded and where
curl -s http://localhost:11435/api/ps | python3 -m json.tool

# Fleet health overview
curl -s http://localhost:11435/dashboard/api/health | python3 -m json.tool

# Model recommendations based on your hardware
curl -s http://localhost:11435/dashboard/api/recommendations | python3 -m json.tool

Web dashboard at http://localhost:11435/dashboard — live view of nodes, queues, and performance.

Also available on this fleet

Larger LLMs (when you need more power)

Llama 3.3 (70B), Qwen 3.5, DeepSeek-R1, Mistral Large — route to a bigger machine in the fleet.

Image generation

curl http://localhost:11435/api/generate-image \
  -d '{"model": "z-image-turbo", "prompt": "minimalist circuit board art", "width": 512, "height": 512}'

Speech-to-text

curl http://localhost:11435/api/transcribe -F "file=@meeting.wav" -F "model=qwen3-asr"

Embeddings

curl http://localhost:11435/api/embed \
  -d '{"model": "nomic-embed-text", "input": "Microsoft Phi small language model"}'

Full documentation

• Agent Setup Guide — all 4 model types
• API Reference — complete endpoint docs

Guardrails

• Model downloads require explicit user confirmation — Phi models are small (2-8GB) but still require confirmation.
• Model deletion requires explicit user confirmation.
• Never delete or modify files in ~/.fleet-manager/.
• No models are downloaded automatically — all pulls are user-initiated or require opt-in.