Show HN: Local LLM Notepad – run a GPT-style model from a USB stick

Summary

Local LLM Notepad Plug a USB drive and run a modern LLM on any PC locally with a double‑click. No installation, no internet, no API, no Cloud computing, no GPU, no admin rights required. Local LLM Notepad is an open-source, offline plug-and-play app for running local large-language models. Drop the single bundled .exe onto a USB stick, walk up to any computer, and start chatting, brainstorming, or drafting documents. Why you’ll love it 🔌 Portable Drop the one‑file EXE and your .gguf model onto a flash drive; run on any Windows PC without admin rights. 🪶 Clean UI Two‑pane layout: type prompts below, watch token‑streamed answers above—no extra chrome. 🔍 Source‑word under‑lining Every word or number you wrote in your prompt is automatically bold‑underlined in the model’s reply. Ctrl+left click on them to view them in a separate window. Handy for fact‑checking summaries, tables, or data extractions. 💾 Save/Load chats One‑click JSON export keeps conversations with the model portable alongside the EXE. ⚡ Llama.cpp inside CPU‑only by default for max compatibility. 🎹 Hot‑keys Ctrl + S to send, Ctrl + Z to stop, Ctrl + F to find, Ctrl + X to clear chat history, Ctrl + Mouse‑Wheel zoom, etc. Quick Start Download Local_LLM_Notepad-portable.exe from the Releases page. Copy the EXE and a compatible GGUF model (e.g. gemma-3-1b-it-Q4_K_M.gguf) onto your USB. Double‑click the EXE on any Windows computer. First launch caches the model into RAM; subsequent prompts stream instantly. Need another model? Use File ▸ Select Model… and point to a different GGUF. Download links: File Link Notes Local_LLM_Notepad-portable.exe Direct download (v1.0.1) ~45 MB, contains everything needed to run LLM on Windows computer gemma-3-1b-it-Q4_K_M.gguf Hugging Face Fast CPU model (~0.8 GB) we recommend for first-time users. Achieves ~20 tokens/second on an i7-10750H CPU Icon (optional) Notepad icon PNG Save as Icon.png next to the EXE and it will be used automatically Feature Details Portable One‑File B...