---
title: "Where models are stored and how much disk they need"
description: "How much disk space do models need, and where does ToolPiper put them?"
date: 2026-09-01
author: "ModelPiper"
tags: ["Models", "Storage", "Disk", "Downloads"]
type: "faq"
canonical: "https://modelpiper.com/help/model-download-and-disk"
---

# Where models are stored and how much disk they need

> How much disk space do models need, and where does ToolPiper put them?

Models live in ToolPiper's Application Support directory and are downloaded on demand, never at install time. A fresh install ships no language, speech or embedding model; the only weights inside the app are a few small image models, far smaller than a single download, so what you use is what you store. Delete a model from the Models pane and the disk space comes back immediately.

## Where they go

`~/Library/Application Support/ToolPiper/`

A partial download is not counted as installed and does not load; start it again from the Models pane.

## How much space

It depends entirely on which models you install. A small speech model is a few hundred megabytes; a large language model quantized for local inference is several gigabytes. The Models pane shows the download size before you commit to it, and the on-disk size after.

If you are short on space, start with one language model and one speech model. You can add more later without re-downloading anything you already have.

## Freeing space

Open the Models pane, select a model, and remove it. Removal deletes the weights and nothing else, and a removed model can be downloaded again later. A model adopted from another tool's library is removed from ToolPiper only; the other tool's copy is untouched.

Model assets are never pruned automatically. A background process that deleted weights you paid bandwidth for would be worse than running out of space, because the next thing you asked for would silently re-download.

## Downloads that stall

Check that the download is not blocked by a VPN or a corporate proxy that inspects large transfers. ToolPiper fetches weights directly from the model host over HTTPS. If a download stalls, cancel it and start it again from the Models pane.