vllm-playground 0.1.1

A web interface for managing and interacting with vLLM servers

vLLM Playground

A modern web interface for managing and interacting with vLLM servers (www.github.com/vllm-project/vllm). Supports GPU and CPU modes, with special optimizations for macOS Apple Silicon and enterprise deployment on OpenShift/Kubernetes.

✨ Agentic-Ready with MCP Support

MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration enables models to use external tools with human-in-the-loop approval.

✨ Tool Calling Support

✨ Structured Outputs Support

🆕 What's New in v0.1.1

• 🔗 MCP Integration - Connect to MCP servers for agentic capabilities
• 🔍 Runtime Detection - Auto-detect Podman, Docker, and vLLM
• ✅ Human-in-the-Loop - Safe tool execution with manual approval

See Changelog for full details.

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🚀 Quick Start

# Install from PyPI
pip install vllm-playground

# Pre-download container image (~10GB for GPU)
vllm-playground pull

# Start the playground
vllm-playground

Open http://localhost:7860 and click "Start Server" - that's it! 🎉

CLI Options

vllm-playground pull                # Pre-download GPU image
vllm-playground pull --cpu          # Pre-download CPU image
vllm-playground --port 8080         # Custom port
vllm-playground stop                # Stop running instance
vllm-playground status              # Check status

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✨ Key Features

Feature	Description
💬 Modern Chat UI	Streamlined ChatGPT-style interface with streaming responses
🔧 Tool Calling	Function calling with Llama, Mistral, Qwen, and more
🔗 MCP Integration	Connect to MCP servers for agentic capabilities
🏗️ Structured Outputs	Constrain responses to JSON Schema, Regex, or Grammar
🐳 Container Mode	Zero-setup vLLM via automatic container management
☸️ OpenShift/K8s	Enterprise deployment with dynamic pod creation
📊 Benchmarking	GuideLLM integration for load testing
📚 Recipes	One-click configs from vLLM community recipes

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📦 Installation Options

Method	Command	Best For
PyPI	pip install vllm-playground	Most users
With Benchmarking	pip install vllm-playground[benchmark]	Load testing
From Source	git clone + python run.py	Development
OpenShift/K8s	./openshift/deploy.sh	Enterprise

📖 See Installation Guide for detailed instructions.

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🔧 Configuration

Tool Calling

Enable in Server Configuration before starting:

1. Check "Enable Tool Calling"
2. Select parser (or "Auto-detect")
3. Start server
4. Define tools in the 🔧 toolbar panel

Supported Models:

• Llama 3.x (llama3_json)
• Mistral (mistral)
• Qwen (hermes)
• Hermes (hermes)

MCP Servers

Connect to external tools via Model Context Protocol:

1. Go to MCP Servers in the sidebar
2. Add a server (presets available: Filesystem, Git, Fetch, Time)
3. Connect and enable in chat panel

⚠️ MCP requires Python 3.10+

CPU Mode (macOS)

Edit config/vllm_cpu.env:

export VLLM_CPU_KVCACHE_SPACE=40
export VLLM_CPU_OMP_THREADS_BIND=auto

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📖 Documentation

Getting Started

• Installation Guide - All installation methods
• Quick Start - Get running in minutes
• macOS CPU Guide - Apple Silicon setup

Features

• Features Overview - Complete feature list
• Gated Models Guide - Access Llama, Gemma, etc.

Deployment

• OpenShift/K8s Deployment - Enterprise deployment
• Architecture Overview - System design
• Container Variants - Container options

Reference

• Troubleshooting - Common issues
• Performance Metrics - Benchmarking
• Command Reference - CLI cheat sheet

Releases

• Changelog - Version history and changes
• v0.1.1 - MCP integration, runtime detection
• v0.1.0 - First release, modern UI, tool calling

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🏗️ Architecture

┌──────────────────┐
│   User Browser   │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │ http://localhost:7860
         ↓
┌──────────────────┐
│   Web UI (Host)  │  ← FastAPI + JavaScript
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
    ┌────┴────┐
    ↓         ↓
┌───────-─┐ ┌────────┐
│ vLLM    │ │  MCP   │  ← Containers / External Servers
│Container│ │Servers │
└────────-┘ └────────┘

📖 See Architecture Overview for details.

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🆘 Quick Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Port in use	vllm-playground stop
Container won't start	podman logs vllm-service
Tool calling fails	Restart with "Enable Tool Calling" checked
Image pull errors	vllm-playground pull --all

📖 See Troubleshooting Guide for more.

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🔗 Related Projects

• vLLM - High-throughput LLM serving
• LLMCompressor Playground - Model compression & quantization
• GuideLLM - Performance benchmarking
• MCP Servers - Official MCP servers

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📝 License

Apache 2.0 License - See LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

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Made with ❤️ for the vLLM community