diff --git a/.github/backend-matrix.yml b/.github/backend-matrix.yml
index 464ffc36c4f6..1bb850de1233 100644
--- a/.github/backend-matrix.yml
+++ b/.github/backend-matrix.yml
@@ -703,6 +703,19 @@ include:
     dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
     context: "./"
     ubuntu-version: '2404'
+  - build-type: 'cublas'
+    cuda-major-version: "12"
+    cuda-minor-version: "8"
+    platforms: 'linux/amd64'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-gpu-nvidia-cuda-12-locate-anything-cpp'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
   - build-type: 'cublas'
     cuda-major-version: "12"
     cuda-minor-version: "8"
@@ -1543,6 +1556,19 @@ include:
     dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
     context: "./"
     ubuntu-version: '2404'
+  - build-type: 'cublas'
+    cuda-major-version: "13"
+    cuda-minor-version: "0"
+    platforms: 'linux/amd64'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-gpu-nvidia-cuda-13-locate-anything-cpp'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
   - build-type: 'cublas'
     cuda-major-version: "13"
     cuda-minor-version: "0"
@@ -1569,6 +1595,19 @@ include:
     backend: "rfdetr-cpp"
     dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
     context: "./"
+  - build-type: 'cublas'
+    cuda-major-version: "13"
+    cuda-minor-version: "0"
+    platforms: 'linux/arm64'
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-nvidia-l4t-cuda-13-arm64-locate-anything-cpp'
+    base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-24.04-arm'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
   - build-type: 'cublas'
     cuda-major-version: "13"
     cuda-minor-version: "0"
@@ -2806,6 +2845,74 @@ include:
     dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
     context: "./"
     ubuntu-version: '2404'
+  # locate-anything-cpp
+  - build-type: ''
+    cuda-major-version: ""
+    cuda-minor-version: ""
+    platforms: 'linux/amd64'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-cpu-locate-anything-cpp'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
+  - build-type: 'sycl_f32'
+    cuda-major-version: ""
+    cuda-minor-version: ""
+    platforms: 'linux/amd64'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-gpu-intel-sycl-f32-locate-anything-cpp'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    base-image: "intel/oneapi-basekit:2025.3.0-0-devel-ubuntu24.04"
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
+  - build-type: 'sycl_f16'
+    cuda-major-version: ""
+    cuda-minor-version: ""
+    platforms: 'linux/amd64'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-gpu-intel-sycl-f16-locate-anything-cpp'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    base-image: "intel/oneapi-basekit:2025.3.0-0-devel-ubuntu24.04"
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
+  - build-type: 'vulkan'
+    cuda-major-version: ""
+    cuda-minor-version: ""
+    platforms: 'linux/amd64'
+    platform-tag: 'amd64'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-gpu-vulkan-locate-anything-cpp'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
+  - build-type: 'vulkan'
+    cuda-major-version: ""
+    cuda-minor-version: ""
+    platforms: 'linux/arm64'
+    platform-tag: 'arm64'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-gpu-vulkan-locate-anything-cpp'
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-24.04-arm'
+    base-image: "ubuntu:24.04"
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2404'
   - build-type: 'sycl_f32'
     cuda-major-version: ""
     cuda-minor-version: ""
@@ -2899,6 +3006,19 @@ include:
     dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
     context: "./"
     ubuntu-version: '2204'
+  - build-type: 'cublas'
+    cuda-major-version: "12"
+    cuda-minor-version: "0"
+    platforms: 'linux/arm64'
+    skip-drivers: 'false'
+    tag-latest: 'auto'
+    tag-suffix: '-nvidia-l4t-arm64-locate-anything-cpp'
+    base-image: "nvcr.io/nvidia/l4t-jetpack:r36.4.0"
+    runs-on: 'ubuntu-24.04-arm'
+    backend: "locate-anything-cpp"
+    dockerfile: "./backend/Dockerfile.golang"
+    context: "./"
+    ubuntu-version: '2204'
   # whisper
   - build-type: ''
     cuda-major-version: ""
diff --git a/.github/workflows/bump_deps.yaml b/.github/workflows/bump_deps.yaml
index 5f1ac0c21525..f02414ef99a4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/bump_deps.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/bump_deps.yaml
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ jobs:
             variable: "RFDETR_VERSION"
             branch: "main"
             file: "backend/go/rfdetr-cpp/Makefile"
+          - repository: "mudler/locate-anything.cpp"
+            variable: "LOCATEANYTHING_VERSION"
+            branch: "master"
+            file: "backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/Makefile"
           - repository: "predict-woo/qwen3-tts.cpp"
             variable: "QWEN3TTS_CPP_VERSION"
             branch: "main"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-extra.yml b/.github/workflows/test-extra.yml
index 12c186ca2870..6c7b2b5e8d25 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-extra.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-extra.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ jobs:
       acestep-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.acestep-cpp }}
       qwen3-tts-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.qwen3-tts-cpp }}
       rfdetr-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.rfdetr-cpp }}
+      locate-anything-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.locate-anything-cpp }}
       vibevoice-cpp: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.vibevoice-cpp }}
       localvqe: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.localvqe }}
       voxtral: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.voxtral }}
@@ -901,6 +902,45 @@ jobs:
       - name: Test rfdetr-cpp
         run: |
           make --jobs=5 --output-sync=target -C backend/go/rfdetr-cpp test
+  # Per-backend e2e for locate-anything-cpp: builds the .so + Go binary and
+  # runs `make -C backend/go/locate-anything-cpp test`. test.sh fetches the
+  # locate-anything-q8_0 GGUF (~6.3 GB, NVIDIA LocateAnything-3B) from the
+  # published mudler/locate-anything.cpp-gguf HF repo + a COCO image, then the
+  # Go wire test loads the model and runs an open-vocabulary Detect, asserting
+  # at least one labeled box. Heavier than the other Go backends (it is a 3B),
+  # so it is gated to changes under backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/.
+  tests-locate-anything-cpp:
+    needs: detect-changes
+    if: needs.detect-changes.outputs.locate-anything-cpp == 'true' || needs.detect-changes.outputs.run-all == 'true'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Clone
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          submodules: true
+      - name: Dependencies
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y build-essential cmake curl libopenblas-dev
+      - name: Setup Go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+      - name: Display Go version
+        run: go version
+      - name: Proto Dependencies
+        run: |
+          # Install protoc
+          curl -L -s https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v26.1/protoc-26.1-linux-x86_64.zip -o protoc.zip && \
+          unzip -j -d /usr/local/bin protoc.zip bin/protoc && \
+          rm protoc.zip
+          go install google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go@v1.34.2
+          go install google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/protoc-gen-go-grpc@1958fcbe2ca8bd93af633f11e97d44e567e945af
+          PATH="$PATH:$HOME/go/bin" make protogen-go
+      - name: Build locate-anything-cpp
+        run: |
+          make --jobs=5 --output-sync=target -C backend/go/locate-anything-cpp
+      - name: Test locate-anything-cpp
+        run: |
+          make --jobs=5 --output-sync=target -C backend/go/locate-anything-cpp test
   # Per-backend smoke for vibevoice-cpp: builds the .so + Go binary and
   # runs `make -C backend/go/vibevoice-cpp test`. test.sh auto-downloads
   # the published mudler/vibevoice.cpp-models bundle (TTS Q8_0 + ASR Q4_K
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index cafcdd44a692..8195c06fc575 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -566,6 +566,7 @@ prepare-test-extra: protogen-python
 	$(MAKE) -C backend/python/speaker-recognition
 	$(MAKE) -C backend/rust/kokoros kokoros-grpc
 	$(MAKE) -C backend/go/rfdetr-cpp
+	$(MAKE) -C backend/go/locate-anything-cpp
 
 test-extra: prepare-test-extra
 	$(MAKE) -C backend/python/transformers test
@@ -593,6 +594,7 @@ test-extra: prepare-test-extra
 	$(MAKE) -C backend/python/speaker-recognition test
 	$(MAKE) -C backend/rust/kokoros test
 	$(MAKE) -C backend/go/rfdetr-cpp test
+	$(MAKE) -C backend/go/locate-anything-cpp test
 
 ##
 ## End-to-end gRPC tests that exercise a built backend container image.
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/.gitignore b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b1d824c3431d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+sources/
+build*/
+package/
+liblocateanythingcpp*.so
+locate-anything-cpp
+test-models/
+test-data/
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..22d6232b8469
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.18)
+project(liblocateanythingcpp LANGUAGES C CXX)
+
+set(CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
+
+# Static-link ggml + locate_anything so the resulting .so has no runtime
+# dependency on extra ggml/locate_anything shared libraries — only on
+# libc/libstdc++/libgomp, which the LocalAI package step bundles into the
+# docker image.
+set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF CACHE BOOL "Build static libraries" FORCE)
+
+# locate-anything.cpp build switches: skip CLI/tests, keep static lib.
+set(LA_BUILD_CLI OFF CACHE BOOL "Disable locate-anything CLI" FORCE)
+set(LA_BUILD_TESTS OFF CACHE BOOL "Disable locate-anything tests" FORCE)
+set(LA_SHARED OFF CACHE BOOL "Build locate_anything as static lib" FORCE)
+
+# Unlike rt-detr.cpp, locate-anything.cpp ships no in-tree ggml patches, so
+# there is no apply_ggml_patches.sh hook to shim here.
+add_subdirectory(./sources/locate-anything.cpp)
+
+# locate-anything.cpp's top-level CMakeLists points its own target's include
+# dirs at ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/{include,src,third_party,...}. CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR
+# is the *top-level* source dir of the whole CMake tree, so when we pull it in
+# via add_subdirectory it resolves to OUR directory, not theirs, and the
+# locate_anything target fails to find its own headers (la_capi.h, stb_image.h,
+# la_gguf_keys.h). Re-add the correct, subdir-relative include paths to the
+# already-defined target so it compiles regardless of where it's nested.
+set(LA_SRC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/sources/locate-anything.cpp)
+target_include_directories(locate_anything PRIVATE
+    ${LA_SRC}/include
+    ${LA_SRC}/src
+    ${LA_SRC}/third_party
+    ${LA_SRC}/third_party/stb)
+
+# locate-anything.cpp's C-API symbols already live inside liblocate_anything
+# (src/la_capi.cpp is compiled into the lib). We re-export them via a MODULE
+# library that links locate_anything so the symbols are visible at dlopen time.
+add_library(locateanythingcpp MODULE
+    sources/locate-anything.cpp/src/la_capi.cpp)
+
+target_include_directories(locateanythingcpp PRIVATE
+    sources/locate-anything.cpp/include
+    sources/locate-anything.cpp/src
+    sources/locate-anything.cpp/third_party
+    sources/locate-anything.cpp/third_party/stb
+)
+
+target_link_libraries(locateanythingcpp PRIVATE locate_anything ggml)
+
+if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "GNU" AND CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_LESS 9.0)
+    target_link_libraries(locateanythingcpp PRIVATE stdc++fs)
+endif()
+
+set_property(TARGET locateanythingcpp PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 17)
+set_target_properties(locateanythingcpp PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/Makefile b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..621c92fa59c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+CMAKE_ARGS?=
+BUILD_TYPE?=
+NATIVE?=false
+
+GOCMD?=go
+GO_TAGS?=
+JOBS?=$(shell nproc --ignore=1)
+
+# locate-anything.cpp. Pin to a specific commit for a stable build; leaving
+# this on `master` always picks up the latest C-API surface (incl. the
+# per-detection accessor functions used by golocateanythingcpp.go).
+LOCATEANYTHING_REPO?=https://github.com/mudler/locate-anything.cpp.git
+LOCATEANYTHING_VERSION?=60e450945476d5e97e0754a8c0e71a9ea81690e0
+
+ifeq ($(NATIVE),false)
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_NATIVE=OFF
+endif
+
+# Forward LocalAI's BUILD_TYPE to the matching ggml backend switch.
+ifeq ($(BUILD_TYPE),cublas)
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_CUDA=ON -DLA_GGML_CUDA=ON
+else ifeq ($(BUILD_TYPE),openblas)
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_BLAS=ON -DGGML_BLAS_VENDOR=OpenBLAS
+else ifeq ($(BUILD_TYPE),clblas)
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_CLBLAST=ON
+else ifeq ($(BUILD_TYPE),hipblas)
+	ROCM_HOME ?= /opt/rocm
+	ROCM_PATH ?= /opt/rocm
+	export CXX=$(ROCM_HOME)/llvm/bin/clang++
+	export CC=$(ROCM_HOME)/llvm/bin/clang
+	AMDGPU_TARGETS?=gfx908,gfx90a,gfx942,gfx950,gfx1030,gfx1100,gfx1101,gfx1102,gfx1200,gfx1201
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_HIPBLAS=ON -DAMDGPU_TARGETS=$(AMDGPU_TARGETS)
+else ifeq ($(BUILD_TYPE),vulkan)
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_VULKAN=ON -DLA_GGML_VULKAN=ON
+else ifeq ($(OS),Darwin)
+	ifneq ($(BUILD_TYPE),metal)
+		CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_METAL=OFF
+	else
+		CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_METAL=ON
+		CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_METAL_EMBED_LIBRARY=ON
+		CMAKE_ARGS+=-DLA_GGML_METAL=ON
+	endif
+endif
+
+ifeq ($(BUILD_TYPE),sycl_f16)
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_SYCL=ON \
+		-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=icx \
+		-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=icpx \
+		-DGGML_SYCL_F16=ON
+endif
+
+ifeq ($(BUILD_TYPE),sycl_f32)
+	CMAKE_ARGS+=-DGGML_SYCL=ON \
+		-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=icx \
+		-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=icpx
+endif
+
+sources/locate-anything.cpp:
+	mkdir -p sources && \
+	git clone --recursive $(LOCATEANYTHING_REPO) sources/locate-anything.cpp && \
+	cd sources/locate-anything.cpp && \
+	git checkout $(LOCATEANYTHING_VERSION) && \
+	git submodule update --init --recursive --depth 1 --single-branch
+
+# Detect OS
+UNAME_S := $(shell uname -s)
+
+# Only build CPU variants on Linux
+ifeq ($(UNAME_S),Linux)
+	VARIANT_TARGETS = liblocateanythingcpp-avx.so liblocateanythingcpp-avx2.so liblocateanythingcpp-avx512.so liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so
+else
+	# On non-Linux (e.g., Darwin), build only fallback variant
+	VARIANT_TARGETS = liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so
+endif
+
+locate-anything-cpp: main.go golocateanythingcpp.go $(VARIANT_TARGETS)
+	CGO_ENABLED=0 $(GOCMD) build -tags "$(GO_TAGS)" -o locate-anything-cpp ./
+
+package: locate-anything-cpp
+	bash package.sh
+
+build: package
+
+clean: purge
+	rm -rf liblocateanythingcpp*.so locate-anything-cpp package sources
+
+purge:
+	rm -rf build*
+
+# Build all variants (Linux only)
+ifeq ($(UNAME_S),Linux)
+liblocateanythingcpp-avx.so: sources/locate-anything.cpp
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+	$(info ${GREEN}I locate-anything-cpp build info:avx${RESET})
+	SO_TARGET=$@ CMAKE_ARGS="$(CMAKE_ARGS) -DGGML_AVX=on -DGGML_AVX2=off -DGGML_AVX512=off -DGGML_FMA=off -DGGML_F16C=off -DGGML_BMI2=off" $(MAKE) liblocateanythingcpp-custom
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+
+liblocateanythingcpp-avx2.so: sources/locate-anything.cpp
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+	$(info ${GREEN}I locate-anything-cpp build info:avx2${RESET})
+	SO_TARGET=$@ CMAKE_ARGS="$(CMAKE_ARGS) -DGGML_AVX=on -DGGML_AVX2=on -DGGML_AVX512=off -DGGML_FMA=on -DGGML_F16C=on -DGGML_BMI2=on" $(MAKE) liblocateanythingcpp-custom
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+
+liblocateanythingcpp-avx512.so: sources/locate-anything.cpp
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+	$(info ${GREEN}I locate-anything-cpp build info:avx512${RESET})
+	SO_TARGET=$@ CMAKE_ARGS="$(CMAKE_ARGS) -DGGML_AVX=on -DGGML_AVX2=on -DGGML_AVX512=on -DGGML_FMA=on -DGGML_F16C=on -DGGML_BMI2=on" $(MAKE) liblocateanythingcpp-custom
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+endif
+
+# Build fallback variant (all platforms)
+liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so: sources/locate-anything.cpp
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+	$(info ${GREEN}I locate-anything-cpp build info:fallback${RESET})
+	SO_TARGET=$@ CMAKE_ARGS="$(CMAKE_ARGS) -DGGML_AVX=off -DGGML_AVX2=off -DGGML_AVX512=off -DGGML_FMA=off -DGGML_F16C=off -DGGML_BMI2=off" $(MAKE) liblocateanythingcpp-custom
+	rm -rfv build-$@
+
+liblocateanythingcpp-custom: CMakeLists.txt
+	mkdir -p build-$(SO_TARGET) && \
+	cd build-$(SO_TARGET) && \
+	cmake .. $(CMAKE_ARGS) && \
+	cmake --build . --config Release -j$(JOBS) && \
+	cd .. && \
+	mv build-$(SO_TARGET)/liblocateanythingcpp.so ./$(SO_TARGET)
+
+all: locate-anything-cpp package
+
+# `test` is invoked by the top-level Makefile's `test-extra` target. It builds
+# the backend binary + the fallback shared library (needed for dlopen at
+# runtime), then runs test.sh which downloads the q8_0 GGUF + COCO image and
+# exercises the gRPC Load/Detect wire path via the Go smoke test in
+# main_test.go.
+test: locate-anything-cpp liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so
+	bash test.sh
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/golocateanythingcpp.go b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/golocateanythingcpp.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..25c7b80c52bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/golocateanythingcpp.go
@@ -0,0 +1,174 @@
+package main
+
+// golocateanythingcpp.go - gRPC handlers (Load, Detect) for the
+// locate-anything-cpp backend.
+//
+// Embeds base.SingleThread to default unimplemented RPCs to "not supported"
+// while we only implement open-vocabulary object detection (Detect).
+
+import (
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"unsafe"
+
+	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/grpc/base"
+	pb "github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/grpc/proto"
+)
+
+// la_ctx* is an opaque handle. la_capi_load returns it directly (0 == failure),
+// unlike rfdetr's out-parameter convention.
+var (
+	// la_capi_load(const char* gguf_path, int n_threads) -> la_ctx* (0 = fail)
+	CapiLoad func(gguf string, nThreads int32) uintptr
+	// la_capi_free(la_ctx* ctx)
+	CapiFree func(handle uintptr)
+	// la_capi_locate_path(ctx, image_path, prompt, mode) -> char* json (0 = err)
+	CapiLocatePath func(handle uintptr, imagePath string, prompt string, mode int32) uintptr
+	// la_capi_locate_buffer(ctx, bytes, len, prompt, mode) -> char* json (0 = err)
+	CapiLocateBuffer func(handle uintptr, bytes uintptr, length uintptr, prompt string, mode int32) uintptr
+	// la_capi_get_n_detections(ctx) -> int
+	CapiGetNDetections func(handle uintptr) int32
+	// la_capi_get_detection_box(ctx, i, out_xyxy[4]) -> int (0 on success)
+	CapiGetDetectionBox func(handle uintptr, i int32, outXYXY uintptr) int32
+	// la_capi_get_detection_label(ctx, i, buf, buf_size) -> int (required size incl NUL; two-call sizing)
+	CapiGetDetectionLabel func(handle uintptr, i int32, buf uintptr, bufSize int32) int32
+	// la_capi_free_string(char* s)
+	CapiFreeString func(s uintptr)
+	// la_capi_last_error(ctx) -> const char* (owned by ctx, "" if none / null ctx).
+	// purego marshals the returned C string into a Go string (a copy), so we
+	// never free it and avoid raw pointer arithmetic.
+	CapiLastError func(handle uintptr) string
+)
+
+type LocateAnythingCpp struct {
+	base.SingleThread
+	handle uintptr
+}
+
+// Load loads the GGUF model at opts.ModelFile (joined with opts.ModelPath if
+// relative) and stores the la_ctx handle for later Detect calls.
+func (r *LocateAnythingCpp) Load(opts *pb.ModelOptions) error {
+	modelFile := opts.ModelFile
+	if modelFile == "" {
+		modelFile = opts.Model
+	}
+	if modelFile == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: ModelFile is empty")
+	}
+
+	var modelPath string
+	if filepath.IsAbs(modelFile) {
+		modelPath = modelFile
+	} else {
+		modelPath = filepath.Join(opts.ModelPath, modelFile)
+	}
+
+	if _, err := os.Stat(modelPath); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: model file not found: %s: %w", modelPath, err)
+	}
+
+	threads := opts.Threads
+	if threads <= 0 {
+		threads = 4
+	}
+
+	// Release previous model if any (re-Load).
+	if r.handle != 0 {
+		CapiFree(r.handle)
+		r.handle = 0
+	}
+
+	h := CapiLoad(modelPath, threads)
+	if h == 0 {
+		// la_capi_last_error needs a ctx; on a failed load we have none (it
+		// returns "" for a null ctx), so the text is best-effort. Surface it
+		// when present.
+		if msg := CapiLastError(0); msg != "" {
+			return fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: la_capi_load failed for %s: %s", modelPath, msg)
+		}
+		return fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: la_capi_load failed for %s", modelPath)
+	}
+	r.handle = h
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Detect runs open-vocabulary detection on the base64-encoded image in opts.Src
+// using the required text prompt in opts.Prompt, returning one pb.Detection per
+// located object with its predicted label as ClassName.
+func (r *LocateAnythingCpp) Detect(opts *pb.DetectOptions) (pb.DetectResponse, error) {
+	if r.handle == 0 {
+		return pb.DetectResponse{}, fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: model not loaded")
+	}
+
+	// Open-vocabulary detection is prompt-driven; without a prompt there is
+	// nothing to locate.
+	prompt := opts.Prompt
+	if prompt == "" {
+		return pb.DetectResponse{}, fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: a text prompt is required (open-vocabulary detection)")
+	}
+
+	// Decode base64 image and write to temp file.
+	imgData, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(opts.Src)
+	if err != nil {
+		return pb.DetectResponse{}, fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: failed to decode base64 image: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	tmpFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "locate-anything-*.img")
+	if err != nil {
+		return pb.DetectResponse{}, fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: failed to create temp file: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer func() { _ = os.Remove(tmpFile.Name()) }()
+
+	if _, err := tmpFile.Write(imgData); err != nil {
+		_ = tmpFile.Close()
+		return pb.DetectResponse{}, fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: failed to write temp file: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := tmpFile.Close(); err != nil {
+		return pb.DetectResponse{}, fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: failed to close temp file: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// mode 0 = hybrid (Parallel Box Decoding). The JSON return value is unused:
+	// structured detections are read via the accessor functions. Still must
+	// free the returned string.
+	jsonPtr := CapiLocatePath(r.handle, tmpFile.Name(), prompt, 0)
+	if jsonPtr != 0 {
+		CapiFreeString(jsonPtr)
+	}
+
+	n := CapiGetNDetections(r.handle)
+	if n < 0 {
+		return pb.DetectResponse{}, fmt.Errorf("locate-anything-cpp: invalid n_detections=%d", n)
+	}
+
+	detections := make([]*pb.Detection, 0, n)
+	for i := int32(0); i < n; i++ {
+		var xyxy [4]float32 // x1, y1, x2, y2
+		if CapiGetDetectionBox(r.handle, i, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&xyxy[0]))) != 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Two-call sizing for the label string.
+		label := ""
+		need := CapiGetDetectionLabel(r.handle, i, 0, 0)
+		if need > 0 {
+			buf := make([]byte, need)
+			CapiGetDetectionLabel(r.handle, i, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&buf[0])), need)
+			label = string(buf[:need-1])
+		}
+
+		detections = append(detections, &pb.Detection{
+			X:          xyxy[0],
+			Y:          xyxy[1],
+			Width:      xyxy[2] - xyxy[0],
+			Height:     xyxy[3] - xyxy[1],
+			Confidence: 1.0,
+			ClassName:  label,
+		})
+	}
+
+	return pb.DetectResponse{
+		Detections: detections,
+	}, nil
+}
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/main.go b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..91ccaf38e436
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+package main
+
+// main.go - entry point for the locate-anything-cpp gRPC backend.
+//
+// Dlopens liblocateanythingcpp-<variant>.so via purego at the path in
+// LOCATEANYTHING_LIBRARY (set by run.sh based on /proc/cpuinfo), registers
+// the la_capi_* C ABI symbols, then starts the gRPC server.
+
+import (
+	"flag"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/ebitengine/purego"
+	grpc "github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/grpc"
+)
+
+var (
+	addr = flag.String("addr", "localhost:50051", "the address to connect to")
+)
+
+type LibFuncs struct {
+	FuncPtr any
+	Name    string
+}
+
+func main() {
+	// Get library name from environment variable, default to fallback
+	libName := os.Getenv("LOCATEANYTHING_LIBRARY")
+	if libName == "" {
+		libName = "./liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so"
+	}
+
+	lib, err := purego.Dlopen(libName, purego.RTLD_NOW|purego.RTLD_GLOBAL)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	libFuncs := []LibFuncs{
+		{&CapiLoad, "la_capi_load"},
+		{&CapiFree, "la_capi_free"},
+		{&CapiLocatePath, "la_capi_locate_path"},
+		{&CapiLocateBuffer, "la_capi_locate_buffer"},
+		{&CapiGetNDetections, "la_capi_get_n_detections"},
+		{&CapiGetDetectionBox, "la_capi_get_detection_box"},
+		{&CapiGetDetectionLabel, "la_capi_get_detection_label"},
+		{&CapiFreeString, "la_capi_free_string"},
+		{&CapiLastError, "la_capi_last_error"},
+	}
+
+	for _, lf := range libFuncs {
+		purego.RegisterLibFunc(lf.FuncPtr, lib, lf.Name)
+	}
+
+	flag.Parse()
+
+	if err := grpc.StartServer(*addr, &LocateAnythingCpp{}); err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/main_test.go b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/main_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fba811c93e15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/main_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,176 @@
+package main
+
+// main_test.go - end-to-end smoke test for the locate-anything-cpp gRPC backend.
+//
+// Spawns the compiled locate-anything-cpp binary on a free local port, dials it
+// via gRPC, and exercises LoadModel + Detect against the test fixtures
+// downloaded by test.sh: the q8_0 GGUF of nvidia/LocateAnything-3B and a real
+// COCO image with people + cars. Asserts that open-vocabulary detection driven
+// by a text prompt returns at least one detection, each carrying a non-empty
+// class name and a bounding box of non-zero size.
+//
+// The spec Skip()s cleanly if its fixtures (the ~6.3 GB model, the test image,
+// the built binary, or the fallback .so) are missing, so the test target stays
+// usable on a fresh checkout / on CI runners where the large model hasn't been
+// downloaded.
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	pb "github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/grpc/proto"
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/credentials/insecure"
+)
+
+func TestDetect(t *testing.T) {
+	RegisterFailHandler(Fail)
+	RunSpecs(t, "locate-anything-cpp backend smoke suite")
+}
+
+// freePort grabs an ephemeral TCP port and immediately releases it so the
+// spawned backend can bind to it. There is a tiny TOCTOU window here but in
+// practice it's adequate for a smoke test on a quiet runner.
+func freePort() int {
+	l, err := net.Listen("tcp", "127.0.0.1:0")
+	Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred(), "freePort listen")
+	port := l.Addr().(*net.TCPAddr).Port
+	Expect(l.Close()).To(Succeed())
+	return port
+}
+
+// startBackend spawns the locate-anything-cpp binary on the given port and
+// waits until it accepts TCP connections (up to 10s). It mirrors how main.go
+// resolves the purego library: the LOCATEANYTHING_LIBRARY env var points the
+// dlopen at the freshly built fallback .so, and the la_capi_* symbols are
+// registered there. The returned cleanup func kills the process and reaps it.
+func startBackend(port int) func() {
+	binary, err := filepath.Abs("./locate-anything-cpp")
+	Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+	if _, err := os.Stat(binary); err != nil {
+		Skip(fmt.Sprintf("backend binary not built: %s (run `make locate-anything-cpp` first)", binary))
+	}
+
+	libPath, err := filepath.Abs("./liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so")
+	Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+	if _, err := os.Stat(libPath); err != nil {
+		Skip(fmt.Sprintf("fallback library not built: %s (run `make liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so` first)", libPath))
+	}
+
+	addr := fmt.Sprintf("127.0.0.1:%d", port)
+	cmd := exec.Command(binary, "--addr", addr)
+	cmd.Env = append(os.Environ(), "LOCATEANYTHING_LIBRARY="+libPath)
+	cmd.Stdout = os.Stderr
+	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+	Expect(cmd.Start()).To(Succeed())
+
+	cleanup := func() {
+		if cmd.Process != nil {
+			_ = cmd.Process.Kill()
+			_, _ = cmd.Process.Wait()
+		}
+	}
+
+	deadline := time.Now().Add(10 * time.Second)
+	for time.Now().Before(deadline) {
+		c, err := net.DialTimeout("tcp", addr, 200*time.Millisecond)
+		if err == nil {
+			_ = c.Close()
+			return cleanup
+		}
+		time.Sleep(200 * time.Millisecond)
+	}
+
+	cleanup()
+	Fail(fmt.Sprintf("backend did not become ready on %s within 10s", addr))
+	return func() {}
+}
+
+// loadTestImage reads the COCO test image downloaded by test.sh and returns its
+// base64-encoded content (the wire format accepted by the Detect RPC).
+func loadTestImage() string {
+	imgPath, err := filepath.Abs("test-data/test.jpg")
+	Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+	imgBytes, err := os.ReadFile(imgPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		Skip(fmt.Sprintf("test image not present: %s (run test.sh first)", imgPath))
+	}
+	return base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(imgBytes)
+}
+
+// dialBackend opens a gRPC client connection to the spawned backend.
+func dialBackend(port int) (pb.BackendClient, func()) {
+	addr := fmt.Sprintf("127.0.0.1:%d", port)
+	conn, err := grpc.NewClient(addr, grpc.WithTransportCredentials(insecure.NewCredentials()))
+	Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+	return pb.NewBackendClient(conn), func() { _ = conn.Close() }
+}
+
+// modelPathOrSkip resolves the model file under ./test-models/ and Skip()s the
+// current spec if it's missing (the ~6.3 GB GGUF is not present on a fresh
+// checkout / on CI runners without the download).
+func modelPathOrSkip(name string) string {
+	modelDir, err := filepath.Abs("test-models")
+	Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+	modelPath := filepath.Join(modelDir, name)
+	if _, err := os.Stat(modelPath); err != nil {
+		Skip(fmt.Sprintf("model not present: %s (run test.sh first)", modelPath))
+	}
+	return modelPath
+}
+
+var _ = Describe("locate-anything-cpp backend", func() {
+	It("runs open-vocabulary detection against a known-good COCO image", func() {
+		modelPath := modelPathOrSkip("locate-anything-q8_0.gguf")
+		imgB64 := loadTestImage()
+
+		port := freePort()
+		cleanup := startBackend(port)
+		defer cleanup()
+
+		client, closeConn := dialBackend(port)
+		defer closeConn()
+
+		// The q8_0 model is ~6.3 GB and hybrid Parallel Box Decoding on CPU is
+		// not cheap, so give LoadModel + Detect a generous deadline.
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 20*time.Minute)
+		defer cancel()
+
+		loadResp, err := client.LoadModel(ctx, &pb.ModelOptions{
+			Model:     "locate-anything-q8_0.gguf",
+			ModelFile: modelPath,
+			Threads:   4,
+		})
+		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred(), "LoadModel")
+		Expect(loadResp.GetSuccess()).To(BeTrue(), "LoadModel reported failure: %s", loadResp.GetMessage())
+
+		// Open-vocabulary detection is prompt-driven; the prompt names the
+		// classes to locate (people + cars), separated by the </c> control token.
+		detResp, err := client.Detect(ctx, &pb.DetectOptions{
+			Src:    imgB64,
+			Prompt: "Locate all the instances that matches the following description: person</c>car.",
+		})
+		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred(), "Detect")
+		Expect(detResp.GetDetections()).ToNot(BeEmpty(), "no detections returned on a known-good COCO image")
+
+		_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(GinkgoWriter, "detection OK: %d detections\n", len(detResp.GetDetections()))
+		for i, d := range detResp.GetDetections() {
+			Expect(d.GetClassName()).ToNot(BeEmpty(), "detection %d has empty class_name", i)
+			Expect(d.GetWidth()).To(BeNumerically(">", float32(0)),
+				"detection %d has non-positive width", i)
+			Expect(d.GetHeight()).To(BeNumerically(">", float32(0)),
+				"detection %d has non-positive height", i)
+			_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(GinkgoWriter, "  [%d] %s box=(%.1f,%.1f,%.1fx%.1f)\n",
+				i, d.GetClassName(), d.GetX(), d.GetY(), d.GetWidth(), d.GetHeight())
+		}
+	})
+})
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/package.sh b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/package.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..3b1f13428c36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/package.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Script to copy the appropriate libraries based on architecture
+
+set -e
+
+CURDIR=$(dirname "$(realpath $0)")
+REPO_ROOT="${CURDIR}/../../.."
+
+# Create lib directory
+mkdir -p $CURDIR/package/lib
+
+cp -avf $CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-*.so $CURDIR/package/
+cp -avf $CURDIR/locate-anything-cpp $CURDIR/package/
+cp -fv $CURDIR/run.sh $CURDIR/package/
+
+# Detect architecture and copy appropriate libraries
+if [ -f "/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2" ]; then
+    # x86_64 architecture
+    echo "Detected x86_64 architecture, copying x86_64 libraries..."
+    cp -arfLv /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 $CURDIR/package/lib/ld.so
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 $CURDIR/package/lib/libc.so.6
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 $CURDIR/package/lib/libgcc_s.so.1
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 $CURDIR/package/lib/libstdc++.so.6
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 $CURDIR/package/lib/libm.so.6
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgomp.so.1 $CURDIR/package/lib/libgomp.so.1
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 $CURDIR/package/lib/libdl.so.2
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/librt.so.1 $CURDIR/package/lib/librt.so.1
+    cp -arfLv /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 $CURDIR/package/lib/libpthread.so.0
+elif [ -f "/lib/ld-linux-aarch64.so.1" ]; then
+    # ARM64 architecture
+    echo "Detected ARM64 architecture, copying ARM64 libraries..."
+    cp -arfLv /lib/ld-linux-aarch64.so.1 $CURDIR/package/lib/ld.so
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 $CURDIR/package/lib/libc.so.6
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 $CURDIR/package/lib/libgcc_s.so.1
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 $CURDIR/package/lib/libstdc++.so.6
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 $CURDIR/package/lib/libm.so.6
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libgomp.so.1 $CURDIR/package/lib/libgomp.so.1
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 $CURDIR/package/lib/libdl.so.2
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/librt.so.1 $CURDIR/package/lib/librt.so.1
+    cp -arfLv /lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 $CURDIR/package/lib/libpthread.so.0
+elif [ $(uname -s) = "Darwin" ]; then
+    echo "Detected Darwin"
+else
+    echo "Error: Could not detect architecture"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Package GPU libraries based on BUILD_TYPE
+GPU_LIB_SCRIPT="${REPO_ROOT}/scripts/build/package-gpu-libs.sh"
+if [ -f "$GPU_LIB_SCRIPT" ]; then
+    echo "Packaging GPU libraries for BUILD_TYPE=${BUILD_TYPE:-cpu}..."
+    source "$GPU_LIB_SCRIPT" "$CURDIR/package/lib"
+    package_gpu_libs
+fi
+
+echo "Packaging completed successfully"
+ls -liah $CURDIR/package/
+ls -liah $CURDIR/package/lib/
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/run.sh b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/run.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..cefbff629463
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -ex
+
+# Get the absolute current dir where the script is located
+CURDIR=$(dirname "$(realpath $0)")
+
+cd /
+
+echo "CPU info:"
+if [ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ]; then
+	grep -e "model\sname" /proc/cpuinfo | head -1
+	grep -e "flags" /proc/cpuinfo | head -1
+fi
+
+LIBRARY="$CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-fallback.so"
+
+if [ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ]; then
+	if grep -q -e "\savx\s" /proc/cpuinfo ; then
+		echo "CPU:    AVX    found OK"
+		if [ -e $CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-avx.so ]; then
+			LIBRARY="$CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-avx.so"
+		fi
+	fi
+
+	if grep -q -e "\savx2\s" /proc/cpuinfo ; then
+		echo "CPU:    AVX2   found OK"
+		if [ -e $CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-avx2.so ]; then
+			LIBRARY="$CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-avx2.so"
+		fi
+	fi
+
+	# Check avx 512
+	if grep -q -e "\savx512f\s" /proc/cpuinfo ; then
+		echo "CPU:    AVX512F found OK"
+		if [ -e $CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-avx512.so ]; then
+			LIBRARY="$CURDIR/liblocateanythingcpp-avx512.so"
+		fi
+	fi
+fi
+
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$CURDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+export LOCATEANYTHING_LIBRARY=$LIBRARY
+
+# If there is a lib/ld.so, use it
+if [ -f $CURDIR/lib/ld.so ]; then
+	echo "Using lib/ld.so"
+	echo "Using library: $LIBRARY"
+	exec $CURDIR/lib/ld.so $CURDIR/locate-anything-cpp "$@"
+fi
+
+echo "Using library: $LIBRARY"
+exec $CURDIR/locate-anything-cpp "$@"
diff --git a/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/test.sh b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..0a088a593f3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/go/locate-anything-cpp/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+
+CURDIR=$(dirname "$(realpath $0)")
+
+echo "Running locate-anything-cpp backend tests..."
+
+# Test model from the mudler/locate-anything.cpp-gguf HuggingFace repo. This is
+# the q8_0 quantization of nvidia/LocateAnything-3B (~6.3 GB), so the download
+# is the slow step. It is resumed with `curl -C -` and skipped entirely if the
+# file is already present.
+LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_DIR="${LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_DIR:-$CURDIR/test-models}"
+
+LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_FILE="${LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_FILE:-locate-anything-q8_0.gguf}"
+LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_URL="${LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_URL:-https://huggingface.co/mudler/locate-anything.cpp-gguf/resolve/main/locate-anything-q8_0.gguf}"
+
+mkdir -p "$LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_DIR"
+
+if [ ! -f "$LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_DIR/$LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_FILE" ]; then
+    echo "Downloading locate-anything q8_0 model (~6.3 GB, this is slow)..."
+    # -C - resumes a partial download so an interrupted run doesn't restart from 0.
+    curl -L -C - -o "$LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_DIR/$LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_FILE" "$LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_URL" --progress-bar
+fi
+
+# Use a real COCO test image (people + cars) from the upstream rf-detr.cpp repo
+# (~46 KB). Open-vocabulary detection needs real content to locate, so a
+# synthetic image would trivially yield zero detections.
+TEST_IMAGE_DIR="$CURDIR/test-data"
+TEST_IMAGE_FILE="$TEST_IMAGE_DIR/test.jpg"
+TEST_IMAGE_URL="${TEST_IMAGE_URL:-https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mudler/rf-detr.cpp/main/tests/fixtures/ci/test_image.jpg}"
+
+mkdir -p "$TEST_IMAGE_DIR"
+if [ ! -f "$TEST_IMAGE_FILE" ]; then
+    echo "Downloading COCO test image..."
+    curl -L -o "$TEST_IMAGE_FILE" "$TEST_IMAGE_URL" --progress-bar
+fi
+
+echo "locate-anything-cpp test setup complete."
+echo "  model:      $LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_DIR/$LOCATEANYTHING_MODEL_FILE"
+echo "  test image: $TEST_IMAGE_FILE"
+
+# Run the Go smoke test: spawns the backend binary on a free port, calls
+# LoadModel + Detect via gRPC against the downloaded GGUF + COCO image.
+echo ""
+echo "Running Go smoke test..."
+cd "$CURDIR"
+go test -v -timeout 30m ./...
diff --git a/backend/index.yaml b/backend/index.yaml
index 37e6890710e4..e641c935512b 100644
--- a/backend/index.yaml
+++ b/backend/index.yaml
@@ -337,6 +337,35 @@
     nvidia-l4t-cuda-13: "cuda13-nvidia-l4t-arm64-rfdetr-cpp"
     intel: "intel-sycl-f32-rfdetr-cpp"
     vulkan: "vulkan-rfdetr-cpp"
+- &locateanything
+  name: "locate-anything"
+  alias: "locate-anything"
+  license: apache-2.0
+  description: |
+    Open-vocabulary object detection and visual grounding (NVIDIA
+    LocateAnything-3B) in C/C++ using GGML. Loads pre-built GGUF weights
+    and, given an image and a free-form text prompt, returns bounding
+    boxes, class labels, and confidence scores for the referred objects.
+  urls:
+    - https://github.com/mudler/locate-anything.cpp
+    - https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B
+  tags:
+    - object-detection
+    - visual-grounding
+    - open-vocabulary
+    - locate-anything
+    - gpu
+    - cpu
+  capabilities:
+    default: "cpu-locate-anything-cpp"
+    nvidia: "cuda12-locate-anything-cpp"
+    nvidia-cuda-12: "cuda12-locate-anything-cpp"
+    nvidia-cuda-13: "cuda13-locate-anything-cpp"
+    nvidia-l4t: "nvidia-l4t-arm64-locate-anything-cpp"
+    nvidia-l4t-cuda-12: "nvidia-l4t-arm64-locate-anything-cpp"
+    nvidia-l4t-cuda-13: "cuda13-nvidia-l4t-arm64-locate-anything-cpp"
+    intel: "intel-sycl-f32-locate-anything-cpp"
+    vulkan: "vulkan-locate-anything-cpp"
 - &vllm
   name: "vllm"
   license: apache-2.0
diff --git a/core/gallery/importers/importers.go b/core/gallery/importers/importers.go
index dddcb1cffe0b..a897e037f513 100644
--- a/core/gallery/importers/importers.go
+++ b/core/gallery/importers/importers.go
@@ -158,6 +158,11 @@ var defaultImporters = []Importer{
 	// RFDetrImporter must run before TransformersImporter — RF-DETR
 	// checkpoints may carry tokenizer-adjacent artefacts.
 	&RFDetrImporter{},
+	// LocateAnythingImporter (NVIDIA LocateAnything open-vocab detection,
+	// native C++/ggml port) must run before LlamaCPPImporter so its GGUF
+	// bundles aren't claimed by the generic .gguf importer; kept next to
+	// RFDetrImporter as both are detection models.
+	&LocateAnythingImporter{},
 	// Existing
 	// DS4Importer must precede LlamaCPPImporter - ds4 weights are GGUFs and
 	// would otherwise be claimed by the generic .gguf-handling llama-cpp
diff --git a/core/gallery/importers/locate-anything.go b/core/gallery/importers/locate-anything.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5dc87aa8843c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/gallery/importers/locate-anything.go
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+package importers
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/core/config"
+	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/core/gallery"
+	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/core/schema"
+	"go.yaml.in/yaml/v2"
+)
+
+var _ Importer = &LocateAnythingImporter{}
+
+// LocateAnythingImporter routes NVIDIA LocateAnything open-vocabulary
+// object-detection / visual-grounding repositories to the
+// "locate-anything-cpp" backend (a native C++/ggml port). It must be
+// registered BEFORE the generic GGUF matchers (LlamaCPPImporter) so its
+// GGUF bundles aren't swallowed by the generic .gguf-handling importer,
+// and alongside RFDetrImporter since both are detection models that may
+// carry tokenizer-adjacent artefacts.
+//
+// Detection signals:
+//   - preferences.backend="locate-anything-cpp" (explicit override);
+//   - repo name contains "locate-anything" or "locateanything"
+//     (case-insensitive).
+type LocateAnythingImporter struct{}
+
+func (i *LocateAnythingImporter) Name() string      { return "locate-anything-cpp" }
+func (i *LocateAnythingImporter) Modality() string  { return "detection" }
+func (i *LocateAnythingImporter) AutoDetects() bool { return true }
+
+func repoLooksLikeLocateAnything(repo string) bool {
+	lower := strings.ToLower(repo)
+	return strings.Contains(lower, "locate-anything") ||
+		strings.Contains(lower, "locateanything") ||
+		strings.Contains(lower, "locate-anything.cpp") ||
+		strings.Contains(lower, "locate-anything-cpp")
+}
+
+func (i *LocateAnythingImporter) Match(details Details) bool {
+	preferences, err := details.Preferences.MarshalJSON()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	preferencesMap := make(map[string]any)
+	if len(preferences) > 0 {
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(preferences, &preferencesMap); err != nil {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+
+	if b, ok := preferencesMap["backend"].(string); ok && b == "locate-anything-cpp" {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	if details.HuggingFace != nil {
+		repoName := details.HuggingFace.ModelID
+		if idx := strings.Index(repoName, "/"); idx >= 0 {
+			repoName = repoName[idx+1:]
+		}
+		if repoLooksLikeLocateAnything(repoName) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Fallback: hfapi recursion bug may leave HuggingFace nil — decide
+	// from the URI owner/repo.
+	if _, repo, ok := HFOwnerRepoFromURI(details.URI); ok {
+		if repoLooksLikeLocateAnything(repo) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
+func (i *LocateAnythingImporter) Import(details Details) (gallery.ModelConfig, error) {
+	preferences, err := details.Preferences.MarshalJSON()
+	if err != nil {
+		return gallery.ModelConfig{}, err
+	}
+	preferencesMap := make(map[string]any)
+	if len(preferences) > 0 {
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(preferences, &preferencesMap); err != nil {
+			return gallery.ModelConfig{}, err
+		}
+	}
+
+	name, ok := preferencesMap["name"].(string)
+	if !ok {
+		name = filepath.Base(details.URI)
+	}
+
+	description, ok := preferencesMap["description"].(string)
+	if !ok {
+		description = "Imported from " + details.URI
+	}
+
+	// Prefer the canonical HF "owner/repo" identifier so the emitted
+	// YAML mirrors gallery locate-anything entries.
+	model := details.URI
+	if details.HuggingFace != nil && details.HuggingFace.ModelID != "" {
+		model = details.HuggingFace.ModelID
+	} else if owner, repo, ok := HFOwnerRepoFromURI(details.URI); ok {
+		model = owner + "/" + repo
+	}
+
+	// Always the native C++/ggml backend; explicit preferences.backend
+	// overrides the default.
+	backend := "locate-anything-cpp"
+	if b, ok := preferencesMap["backend"].(string); ok && b != "" {
+		backend = b
+	}
+
+	modelConfig := config.ModelConfig{
+		Name:                name,
+		Description:         description,
+		Backend:             backend,
+		KnownUsecaseStrings: []string{"detection"},
+		PredictionOptions: schema.PredictionOptions{
+			BasicModelRequest: schema.BasicModelRequest{Model: model},
+		},
+	}
+
+	data, err := yaml.Marshal(modelConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		return gallery.ModelConfig{}, err
+	}
+
+	return gallery.ModelConfig{
+		Name:        name,
+		Description: description,
+		ConfigFile:  string(data),
+	}, nil
+}
diff --git a/core/gallery/importers/locate-anything_test.go b/core/gallery/importers/locate-anything_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1e4b60f7ccf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/gallery/importers/locate-anything_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+package importers_test
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/core/gallery/importers"
+	hfapi "github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/huggingface-api"
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+)
+
+var _ = Describe("LocateAnythingImporter", func() {
+	Context("Importer interface metadata", func() {
+		It("exposes name/modality/autodetect", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			Expect(imp.Name()).To(Equal("locate-anything-cpp"))
+			Expect(imp.Modality()).To(Equal("detection"))
+			Expect(imp.AutoDetects()).To(BeTrue())
+		})
+	})
+
+	Context("Match", func() {
+		It("matches when backend preference is locate-anything-cpp", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			preferences := json.RawMessage(`{"backend": "locate-anything-cpp"}`)
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI:         "https://example.com/some-model",
+				Preferences: preferences,
+			}
+
+			Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeTrue())
+		})
+
+		It("matches when the repo name contains 'locate-anything' (case-insensitive)", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI: "https://huggingface.co/mudler/locate-anything-cpp-3b",
+				HuggingFace: &hfapi.ModelDetails{
+					ModelID: "mudler/Locate-Anything-CPP-3B",
+					Author:  "mudler",
+				},
+			}
+
+			Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeTrue())
+		})
+
+		It("matches when the repo name contains 'locateanything' (case-insensitive)", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI: "https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+				HuggingFace: &hfapi.ModelDetails{
+					ModelID: "nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+					Author:  "nvidia",
+				},
+			}
+
+			Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeTrue())
+		})
+
+		It("matches via URI fallback when HuggingFace details are missing", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI: "https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+			}
+
+			Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeTrue())
+		})
+
+		It("does not match unrelated repos without locate-anything signals", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI: "https://huggingface.co/meta-llama/Llama-3-8B",
+				HuggingFace: &hfapi.ModelDetails{
+					ModelID: "meta-llama/Llama-3-8B",
+					Author:  "meta-llama",
+				},
+			}
+
+			Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeFalse())
+		})
+
+		It("does not match an rfdetr repo", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI: "https://huggingface.co/mudler/rfdetr-cpp-nano",
+				HuggingFace: &hfapi.ModelDetails{
+					ModelID: "mudler/rfdetr-cpp-nano",
+					Author:  "mudler",
+				},
+			}
+
+			Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeFalse())
+		})
+
+		It("returns false for invalid preferences JSON", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			preferences := json.RawMessage(`not valid json`)
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI:         "https://example.com/model",
+				Preferences: preferences,
+			}
+
+			Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeFalse())
+		})
+	})
+
+	Context("Import", func() {
+		It("produces a YAML with backend locate-anything-cpp and the repo as the model", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI: "https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+				HuggingFace: &hfapi.ModelDetails{
+					ModelID: "nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+					Author:  "nvidia",
+				},
+			}
+
+			modelConfig, err := imp.Import(details)
+
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(modelConfig.ConfigFile).To(ContainSubstring("backend: locate-anything-cpp"), fmt.Sprintf("Model config: %+v", modelConfig))
+			Expect(modelConfig.ConfigFile).To(ContainSubstring("nvidia/LocateAnything-3B"), fmt.Sprintf("Model config: %+v", modelConfig))
+			Expect(modelConfig.ConfigFile).To(ContainSubstring("detection"), fmt.Sprintf("Model config: %+v", modelConfig))
+		})
+
+		It("respects custom name and description from preferences", func() {
+			imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+			preferences := json.RawMessage(`{"name": "my-locate", "description": "Custom"}`)
+			details := importers.Details{
+				URI:         "https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+				Preferences: preferences,
+				HuggingFace: &hfapi.ModelDetails{
+					ModelID: "nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+					Author:  "nvidia",
+				},
+			}
+
+			modelConfig, err := imp.Import(details)
+
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(modelConfig.Name).To(Equal("my-locate"))
+			Expect(modelConfig.Description).To(Equal("Custom"))
+		})
+	})
+
+	// Table-driven coverage of the backend routing: locate-anything repos
+	// always route to the native locate-anything-cpp backend, with an
+	// explicit preferences.backend override honoured.
+	//
+	// Cases are kept offline-deterministic by injecting Details directly
+	// rather than going through DiscoverModelConfig (which would hit live HF).
+	Context("backend routing (offline)", func() {
+		hfFile := func(path string) hfapi.ModelFile {
+			return hfapi.ModelFile{Path: path}
+		}
+
+		type tc struct {
+			name          string
+			uri           string
+			modelID       string
+			files         []hfapi.ModelFile
+			prefs         string
+			expectBackend string // expected `backend:` line content
+		}
+
+		entries := []tc{
+			{
+				name:          "canonical NVIDIA repo routes to locate-anything-cpp",
+				uri:           "https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+				modelID:       "nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+				files:         []hfapi.ModelFile{hfFile("locate-anything-3b-q8_0.gguf"), hfFile("README.md")},
+				prefs:         "",
+				expectBackend: "backend: locate-anything-cpp",
+			},
+			{
+				name:          "GGUF bundle with locate-anything name routes to locate-anything-cpp",
+				uri:           "https://huggingface.co/mudler/locate-anything.cpp-3b",
+				modelID:       "mudler/locate-anything.cpp-3b",
+				files:         []hfapi.ModelFile{hfFile("model-f16.gguf")},
+				prefs:         "",
+				expectBackend: "backend: locate-anything-cpp",
+			},
+			{
+				name:          "explicit preferences.backend override is honoured",
+				uri:           "https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+				modelID:       "nvidia/LocateAnything-3B",
+				files:         nil,
+				prefs:         `{"backend": "locate-anything-cpp"}`,
+				expectBackend: "backend: locate-anything-cpp",
+			},
+		}
+
+		for _, e := range entries {
+			e := e // capture for closure
+			It(e.name, func() {
+				imp := &importers.LocateAnythingImporter{}
+				details := importers.Details{
+					URI: e.uri,
+					HuggingFace: &hfapi.ModelDetails{
+						ModelID: e.modelID,
+						Files:   e.files,
+					},
+				}
+				if e.prefs != "" {
+					details.Preferences = json.RawMessage(e.prefs)
+				}
+
+				Expect(imp.Match(details)).To(BeTrue(), fmt.Sprintf("Match should fire for %+v", details))
+
+				modelConfig, err := imp.Import(details)
+				Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred(), fmt.Sprintf("Import error: %v", err))
+				Expect(modelConfig.ConfigFile).To(ContainSubstring(e.expectBackend),
+					fmt.Sprintf("Model config: %+v", modelConfig))
+			})
+		}
+	})
+})
diff --git a/gallery/index.yaml b/gallery/index.yaml
index 9d03a98a9bad..447b1fb6ca3d 100644
--- a/gallery/index.yaml
+++ b/gallery/index.yaml
@@ -6685,6 +6685,37 @@
     - filename: rfdetr-nano-q8_0.gguf
       uri: huggingface://mudler/rfdetr-cpp-nano/rfdetr-nano-q8_0.gguf
       sha256: 940084c60a780f1a19a51458ae3a601454b3b843675fa0713ff43ae5bccc0d9b
+- name: locate-anything-3b
+  url: github:mudler/LocalAI/gallery/virtual.yaml@master
+  urls:
+    - https://github.com/mudler/locate-anything.cpp
+    - https://huggingface.co/nvidia/LocateAnything-3B
+    - https://huggingface.co/mudler/locate-anything.cpp-gguf
+  description: |
+    NVIDIA LocateAnything-3B open-vocabulary object detection (visual grounding), served via the native
+    locate-anything.cpp backend (C++/ggml + purego, no Python). Describe what to find in a text prompt and
+    get labeled boxes back; separate multiple categories with </c>. Q8_0 is the recommended default:
+    box-identical to F16/F32, ~6.3GB, fastest CPU latency. Drop-in for the /v1/detection endpoint (pass the
+    prompt).
+  license: other
+  icon: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/53104118?s=200&v=4
+  tags:
+    - object-detection
+    - open-vocabulary
+    - locate-anything
+    - native
+    - cpp
+    - cpu
+  overrides:
+    backend: locate-anything-cpp
+    known_usecases:
+      - detection
+    parameters:
+      model: locate-anything-q8_0.gguf
+  files:
+    - filename: locate-anything-q8_0.gguf
+      uri: huggingface://mudler/locate-anything.cpp-gguf/locate-anything-q8_0.gguf
+      sha256: 0909d8a1aba584b482d501baae032611d1559878be1b7f6606ba516687c5380d
 - name: rfdetr-cpp-base
   url: github:mudler/LocalAI/gallery/virtual.yaml@master
   urls: