Gemma 3 1B Instruct (Gemma-3-1b-it) is a powerful compact language model from Google that requires manual download due to licensing requirements.

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Why Manual Download?

Google’s Gemma models require you to:
  1. Have a Hugging Face account
  2. Accept the Gemma license agreement
  3. Use authenticated downloads
This cannot be done automatically by Izwi.

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Prerequisites

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Create a Hugging Face Account

If you don’t have one, sign up at huggingface.co.

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Accept the Gemma License

  1. Visit the Gemma 3 1B model page
  2. Click Agree and access repository
  3. Read and accept the license terms
Note: License approval is usually instant but may take a few minutes.

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Step 1: Install Hugging Face CLI

Choose one method: Option 1: Using pipx (Recommended) 
pipx install huggingface_hub
Option 2: Using pip 
python3 -m pip install --upgrade "huggingface_hub[cli]"

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Step 2: Authenticate

Log in to Hugging Face from your terminal: 
huggingface-cli login
When prompted:
  1. Go to huggingface.co/settings/tokens
  2. Create a new token with Read permissions
  3. Paste the token into your terminal
Verify you’re logged in: 
huggingface-cli whoami

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Step 3: Download the Model

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macOS

huggingface-cli download google/gemma-3-1b-it \
  --repo-type model \
  --local-dir "$HOME/Library/Application Support/izwi/models/Gemma-3-1b-it"

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Linux

huggingface-cli download google/gemma-3-1b-it \
  --repo-type model \
  --local-dir "$HOME/.local/share/izwi/models/Gemma-3-1b-it"

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Windows (PowerShell)

huggingface-cli download google/gemma-3-1b-it `
  --repo-type model `
  --local-dir "$env:APPDATA\izwi\models\Gemma-3-1b-it"
The download is approximately 2.5 GB and may take several minutes depending on your connection.

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Step 4: Verify Installation

Restart Izwi or refresh the model list: 
izwi list --local
You should see Gemma-3-1b-it in the list. Load the model: 
izwi models load Gemma-3-1b-it

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Troubleshooting

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”Access to model is restricted”

You haven’t accepted the license yet:
  1. Visit huggingface.co/google/gemma-3-1b-it
  2. Click Agree and access repository
  3. Wait a few minutes for approval
  4. Try the download again

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”401 Client Error: Unauthorized”

Your token doesn’t have the right permissions:
  1. Go to huggingface.co/settings/tokens
  2. Create a new token with Read access
  3. Run huggingface-cli login again with the new token

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Model not appearing in Izwi

  1. Check the model was downloaded to the correct directory
  2. Verify the folder name is exactly Gemma-3-1b-it
  3. Restart the Izwi server

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Download interrupted

The Hugging Face CLI automatically resumes. Just run the same download command again.

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Using Gemma 3 1B

Once loaded, you can use Gemma for chat: 
izwi chat --model Gemma-3-1b-it
Or via the web UI at http://localhost:8080/chat.

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See Also