Per-Collection Models

Override embedding, rerank, expansion, and answer models for one collection without replacing the active global preset.

Per-Collection Models

GNO has two layers of model configuration:

  1. global presets
  2. optional collection overrides

This lets you keep one opinionated workspace default while tuning a few collections independently.

Resolution Order

For each role:

  1. collection override
  2. active preset
  3. built-in default fallback

Supported per-collection roles:

  • embed
  • rerank
  • expand
  • gen

Overrides are partial. You only set the roles you want to change.

Example

collections:
  - name: work
    path: /Users/you/work/docs
    models:
      rerank: "file:/models/work-reranker.gguf"
      expand: "http://gpu-box:8083/v1/chat/completions#gno-expand"

  - name: code
    path: /Users/you/work/project/src
    models:
      embed: "hf:Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B-GGUF/Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf"

Everything not overridden still inherits from the active preset.

Best Use Cases

Use per-collection models when:

  • one code collection should use a different embed model
  • one collection needs a larger reranker
  • one high-value collection needs a custom answer model
  • you want to experiment without replacing the workspace default

Do not use per-collection overrides when the whole workspace should change. In that case, make or switch a preset instead.

Web UI

Collections page:

  1. open a collection card menu
  2. click Model settings
  3. edit one or more roles
  4. save

The dialog shows:

  • the current effective model per role
  • whether it is inherited or overridden
  • reset-to-inherit actions

CLI

At collection creation time:

gno collection add ~/work/project/src \
  --name code \
  --embed-model "hf:Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B-GGUF/Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf"

After changing an embed model on an existing populated collection:

gno embed code

Optional stale cleanup:

gno collection clear-embeddings code

API

Update collection overrides:

curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3000/api/collections/code \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "models": {
      "embed": "hf:Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B-GGUF/Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf",
      "rerank": null
    }
  }'

null clears an override and returns that role to preset inheritance.

Current Limit

GNO does not yet support:

  • per-path model overrides
  • per-file-type model overrides
  • multiple embed models inside one collection

If you need different model behavior for code and markdown, split them into separate collections.

See also: