Cloud AI Comparison

Mapping LEAP SDK concepts to cloud chat-completion APIs like OpenAI.

If you’ve used a cloud chat-completion API (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), most of LEAP’s shape will be familiar — async streaming, role-tagged messages, JSON-serializable history. The biggest difference: you load the model explicitly, locally, before generation, instead of pointing a client at a remote endpoint.

This page maps the OpenAI Python client’s flow onto the LEAP SDK across Swift, Kotlin (Android), and Kotlin (JVM / native). For OpenAI compatibility on the client side, also see OpenAI-Compatible Client.

Reference: an OpenAI streaming call

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4.1",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say 'double bubble bath' ten times fast."}],
    stream=True,
)

for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.choices:
        delta = chunk.choices[0].delta.get("content")
        if delta:
            print(delta, end="", flush=True)
print("\nGeneration done!")

1. Load the model (vs. construct a client)

Cloud APIs create a thin client that points at a remote endpoint. LEAP downloads the model the first time and loads it into a ModelRunner — typically a few seconds depending on model size and device.

OpenAI (Python)

client = OpenAI()

Swift (iOS / macOS)

import LeapModelDownloader

let caches = FileManager.default.urls(for: .cachesDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!.path
let modelsDir = (caches as NSString).appendingPathComponent("leap_models")
let downloader = ModelDownloader(config: LeapDownloaderConfig(saveDir: modelsDir))

let runner = try await downloader.loadModel(
    modelName: "LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct",
    quantizationType: "Q4_K_M"
)

Kotlin (Android)

val downloader = LeapModelDownloader(context)
val runner = downloader.loadModel(
    modelName = "LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct",
    quantizationType = "Q4_K_M",
)

Kotlin (JVM / native)

val downloader = LeapDownloader(LeapDownloaderConfig(saveDir = cacheDir))
val runner = downloader.loadModel(
    modelName = "LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct",
    quantizationType = "Q4_K_M",
)

The returned ModelRunner plays the same role as the cloud API’s client object — except it carries the model weights. Release it and you’ll have to load again before generating.

2. Request generation

The cloud API takes a messages array and returns a stream. LEAP attaches messages to a Conversation (so history is tracked automatically) and returns an async stream from generateResponse(...).

OpenAI (Python)

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4.1",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "..."}],
    stream=True,
)

Swift (iOS / macOS)

let conversation = runner.createConversation()
let stream = conversation.generateResponse(userTextMessage: "Say 'double bubble bath' ten times fast.")

Kotlin (all platforms)

val conversation = runner.createConversation()
val flow = conversation.generateResponse("Say 'double bubble bath' ten times fast.")

You don’t pass the model name on each call — the Conversation is already bound to the runner that loaded it.

3. Consume the stream

Cloud APIs deliver deltas; you concatenate them. LEAP delivers MessageResponse values; each variant maps to a UI update, audio frame, tool call, or completion marker.

OpenAI (Python)

for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.choices:
        delta = chunk.choices[0].delta.get("content")
        if delta:
            print(delta, end="", flush=True)

Swift (iOS / macOS)

for try await response in stream {
    switch onEnum(of: response) {
    case .chunk(let chunk):
        print(chunk.text, terminator: "")
    case .complete(let completion):
        print("\nDone! Tokens: \(completion.stats?.totalTokens ?? 0)")
    case .reasoningChunk, .audioSample, .functionCalls:
        break
    case .error(let err):
        print("\nGeneration failed: \(err.message)")
    }
}

Kotlin (all platforms)

flow.onEach { response ->
    when (response) {
        is MessageResponse.Chunk -> print(response.text)
        is MessageResponse.Complete -> println("\nDone! Tokens: ${response.stats?.totalTokens}")
        is MessageResponse.ReasoningChunk -> {}
        is MessageResponse.FunctionCalls -> {}
        is MessageResponse.AudioSample -> {}
        is MessageResponse.Error -> println("\nGeneration failed: ${response.message}")
    }
}.collect()

4. Async context

Both LEAP and the OpenAI Python streaming client run inside an async context. The SDK’s call shape mirrors the language’s idiomatic concurrency primitives.

Swift (iOS / macOS)

Wrap calls in a Task. SwiftUI’s .task modifier on a view is the most common entry. @MainActor view models keep model state on the main thread; the for try await loop suspends the task until the next chunk arrives.

@MainActor
final class ChatViewModel: ObservableObject {
    @Published var currentResponse = ""
    private var runner: ModelRunner?
    private var conversation: Conversation?
    private let downloader: ModelDownloader = {
        let caches = FileManager.default.urls(for: .cachesDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!.path
        let modelsDir = (caches as NSString).appendingPathComponent("leap_models")
        return ModelDownloader(config: LeapDownloaderConfig(saveDir: modelsDir))
    }()

    func loadModel() async {
        runner = try? await downloader.loadModel(
            modelName: "LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct",
            quantizationType: "Q4_K_M"
        )
        conversation = runner?.createConversation()
    }

    func sendMessage(_ text: String) {
        guard let conversation else { return }
        Task {
            let message = ChatMessage(role: .user, content: [.text(text)])
            for try await response in conversation.generateResponse(message: message) {
                if case .chunk(let c) = onEnum(of: response) {
                    currentResponse += c.text
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Kotlin (Android)

Use viewModelScope (or lifecycleScope for activity-bound work). The flow is collected on the coroutine; cancellation is cooperative.

class ChatViewModel(application: Application) : AndroidViewModel(application) {
    private val downloader = LeapModelDownloader(application)
    private var runner: ModelRunner? = null
    private var conversation: Conversation? = null
    private val _text = MutableStateFlow("")
    val text: StateFlow<String> = _text.asStateFlow()

    fun loadModel() = viewModelScope.launch {
        runner = downloader.loadModel(
            modelName = "LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct",
            quantizationType = "Q4_K_M"
        )
        conversation = runner?.createConversation()
    }

    fun send(text: String) = viewModelScope.launch {
        conversation?.generateResponse(text)?.onEach { resp ->
            if (resp is MessageResponse.Chunk) _text.value += resp.text
        }?.collect()
    }
}

Kotlin (JVM / native)

Use any coroutine scope — runBlocking for CLIs, a custom CoroutineScope for server-side code, or MainScope() for Compose for Desktop.

fun main() = runBlocking {
    val downloader = LeapDownloader(LeapDownloaderConfig(saveDir = cacheDir))
    val runner = downloader.loadModel(
        modelName = "LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct",
        quantizationType = "Q4_K_M"
    )
    val conversation = runner.createConversation()

    conversation.generateResponse("Hello").collect { resp ->
        if (resp is MessageResponse.Chunk) print(resp.text)
    }
}

What’s the same

Concept	OpenAI	LEAP
Role-tagged messages	{"role": "user", "content": "..."}	ChatMessage(role: .user, textContent: "...")
Streaming responses	stream=True iterator	SkieSwiftFlow<MessageResponse> (Swift, iterable with for try await) / Flow<MessageResponse> (Kotlin)
Function calling	Tool definitions + tool_calls field	registerFunction(LeapFunction) + MessageResponse.FunctionCalls
Structured output	response_format = json_schema	Swift options.with(jsonSchema: T.jsonSchema()) / Kotlin setResponseFormatType<T>()
Token usage stats	usage object on completion	Complete.stats (promptTokens, completionTokens, tokenPerSecond)

What’s different

• No remote endpoint. You ship the model with the app (or download it the first time it runs). Latency is bounded by device CPU/GPU, not network round-trips.
• Explicit lifecycle. Hold a ModelRunner reference; unload() when done. Cloud clients never load anything explicitly.
• Multimodal inputs go in content array, same as OpenAI. Image and audio parts use the same OpenAI image_url / input_audio wire format.
• Companion files for multimodal models. Vision and audio-capable models need an mmproj (vision) and/or audio decoder/tokenizer co-located on disk. Manifest-based loading handles this automatically; loadSimpleModel accepts explicit mmprojPath / audioDecoderPath / audioTokenizerPath.

Next steps

• Quick Start — full setup for your platform.
• OpenAI-Compatible Client — the LeapOpenAIClient lets you point an OpenAI-style client at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
• Conversation & Generation — full streaming API reference.