ZigFormer
An LLM implemented in pure Zig
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Hi everyone,I've made an early version of ZigFormer, a small LLM implemented in Zig with no dependencies on external ML frameworks like PyTorch or JAX. ZigFormer is modelled after a textbook LLM (like GPT-2 from OpenAI) and can be used as a Zig library as well as a standalone application to train a model and chat with it.This was mainly an educational project. I'm sharing it here in case others find it interesting or useful.Link to the project: https://github.com/CogitatorTech/zigformer
HN · launched Nov 27, 2025 · 22 upvotes (top 29%) · 0 views
Niche: deep learning frameworks · 48 launches, 0 in the last 7 days · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Model & infra
- Developer
- AI-native
- Hobby / open-source project
More like this: all 48 launches in deep learning frameworks →
Could you build this?
Partial Implementing a basic transformer forward/backward pass from scratch in Zig is vibe-codeable with AI assistance, but training and getting competitive performance without external ML frameworks requires deep systems and ML systems engineering.
What it would actually take: A functional LLM engine in pure Zig requires custom tensor data structures, BLAS-level matrix multiplication routines (SIMD intrinsics, memory tiling), manual backpropagation, and custom BPE tokenizers. Training requires numerical stability techniques, gradient accumulation, and custom memory management to avoid overhead. A production version demands expertise in low-level systems programming, hardware-level CPU/GPU optimization, and deep learning mathematical foundations.
Discussion
4 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: GGML, OpenBLAS
Concerns raised: Limited practical usefulness beyond education, Cannot run production models like Qwen3, Avoids external linear algebra libraries makes it less extensible
Feature requests: Support for running established LLM models, Integration with mature linalg/tensor library for Zig, Build on top of GGML for better extensibility
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 148 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #40 of 149 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 27 days after the earliest competitor.
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