[!NOTE] Includes Unsloth chat template fixes! For llama.cpp, use --jinja

LFM2-2.6B-Exp

LFM2-2.6B-Exp is an experimental checkpoint built on LFM2-2.6B using pure reinforcement learning.

Specifically trained on instruction following, knowledge, and math, it delivers particularly strong performance compared to other 3B models. In particular, its IFBench score surpasses DeepSeek R1-0528, a model 263 times larger.

Find more information about LFM2 in our blog post.

📄 Model details

Due to their small size, we recommend fine-tuning LFM2 models on narrow use cases to maximize performance. They are particularly suited for agentic tasks, data extraction, RAG, creative writing, and multi-turn conversations. However, we do not recommend using them for tasks that are knowledge-intensive or require programming skills.

Supported languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

Generation parameters: We recommend the following parameters:

• temperature=0.3
• min_p=0.15
• repetition_penalty=1.05

Chat template: LFM2 uses a ChatML-like chat template as follows:

<|startoftext|><|im_start|>system
You are a helpful assistant trained by Liquid AI.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
What is C. elegans?<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
It's a tiny nematode that lives in temperate soil environments.<|im_end|>

You can automatically apply it using the dedicated .apply_chat_template() function from Hugging Face transformers.

Tool use: It consists of four main steps:

1. Function definition: LFM2 takes JSON function definitions as input (JSON objects between <|tool_list_start|> and <|tool_list_end|> special tokens), usually in the system prompt
2. Function call: LFM2 writes Pythonic function calls (a Python list between <|tool_call_start|> and <|tool_call_end|> special tokens), as the assistant answer.
3. Function execution: The function call is executed and the result is returned (string between <|tool_response_start|> and <|tool_response_end|> special tokens), as a "tool" role.
4. Final answer: LFM2 interprets the outcome of the function call to address the original user prompt in plain text.

Here is a simple example of a conversation using tool use:

<|startoftext|><|im_start|>system
List of tools: <|tool_list_start|>[{"name": "get_candidate_status", "description": "Retrieves the current status of a candidate in the recruitment process", "parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {"candidate_id": {"type": "string", "description": "Unique identifier for the candidate"}}, "required": ["candidate_id"]}}]<|tool_list_end|><|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
What is the current status of candidate ID 12345?<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
<|tool_call_start|>[get_candidate_status(candidate_id="12345")]<|tool_call_end|>Checking the current status of candidate ID 12345.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>tool
<|tool_response_start|>[{"candidate_id": "12345", "status": "Interview Scheduled", "position": "Clinical Research Associate", "date": "2023-11-20"}]<|tool_response_end|><|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
The candidate with ID 12345 is currently in the "Interview Scheduled" stage for the position of Clinical Research Associate, with an interview date set for 2023-11-20.<|im_end|>

You can directly pass tools as JSON schema or Python functions with .apply_chat_template() as shown in this page to automatically format the system prompt.

Architecture: Hybrid model with multiplicative gates and short convolutions: 10 double-gated short-range LIV convolution blocks and 6 grouped query attention (GQA) blocks.

Pre-training mixture: Approximately 75% English, 20% multilingual, and 5% code data sourced from the web and licensed materials.

Training approach:

• Very large-scale SFT on 50% downstream tasks, 50% general domains
• Custom DPO with length normalization and semi-online datasets
• Iterative model merging
• Reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards

🏃 How to run LFM2

1. Transformers

To run LFM2, you need to install Hugging Face transformers v4.55 or a more recent version as follows:

pip install -U transformers

Here is an example of how to generate an answer with transformers in Python:

from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM, AutoTokenizer

# Load model and tokenizer
model_id = "LiquidAI/LFM2-2.6B-Exp"
model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(
    model_id,
    device_map="auto",
    torch_dtype="bfloat16",
#    attn_implementation="flash_attention_2" <- uncomment on compatible GPU
)
tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(model_id)

# Generate answer
prompt = "What is C. elegans?"
input_ids = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
    [{"role": "user", "content": prompt}],
    add_generation_prompt=True,
    return_tensors="pt",
    tokenize=True,
).to(model.device)

output = model.generate(
    input_ids,
    do_sample=True,
    temperature=0.3,
    min_p=0.15,
    repetition_penalty=1.05,
    max_new_tokens=512,
)

print(tokenizer.decode(output[0], skip_special_tokens=False))

# <|startoftext|><|im_start|>user
# What is C. elegans?<|im_end|>
# <|im_start|>assistant
# C. elegans, also known as Caenorhabditis elegans, is a small, free-living
# nematode worm (roundworm) that belongs to the phylum Nematoda.

You can directly run and test the model with this Colab notebook.

2. vLLM

You need to install vLLM v0.10.2 or a more recent version as follows:

uv pip install vllm==0.10.2 --extra-index-url https://wheels.vllm.ai/0.10.2/ --torch-backend=auto

Here is an example of how to use it for inference:

from vllm import LLM, SamplingParams

prompts = [
    "What is C. elegans?",
    "Say hi in JSON format",
    "Define AI in Spanish"
]
sampling_params = SamplingParams(temperature=0.3, min_p=0.15, repetition_penalty=1.05)

llm = LLM(model="LiquidAI/LFM2-2.6B-Exp")

outputs = llm.generate(prompts, sampling_params)

for output in outputs:
    prompt = output.prompt
    generated_text = output.outputs[0].text
    print(f"Prompt: {prompt!r}, Generated text: {generated_text!r}")

3. llama.cpp

You can run LFM2 with llama.cpp using its GGUF checkpoint. Find more information in the model card.

🔧 How to fine-tune LFM2

We recommend fine-tuning LFM2 models on your use cases to maximize performance.

📬 Contact

If you are interested in custom solutions with edge deployment, please contact our sales team.

Citation

@article{liquidai2025lfm2,
 title={LFM2 Technical Report},
 author={Liquid AI},
 journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.23404},
 year={2025}
}