diff --git a/docs/zh_cn/serving/restful_api.md b/docs/zh_cn/serving/restful_api.md
index 0a40700153..931c4a21a9 100644
--- a/docs/zh_cn/serving/restful_api.md
+++ b/docs/zh_cn/serving/restful_api.md
@@ -156,6 +156,13 @@ openaoe -f /path/to/your/config-template.yaml
 
 具体信息请参考 [部署说明](https://github.com/InternLM/OpenAOE/blob/main/docs/tech-report/model_serving_by_lmdeploy/model_serving_by_lmdeploy.md).
 
+### 自定义对话模板
+
+LMDeploy 支持两种添加对话模板的形式：
+
+- 一种是以 LMDeploy 现有对话模板，自定义一个python对话模板类，注册成功后直接用即可。优点是自定义程度高，可控性强。
+- 一种是传入 Huggingface 的对话模板，即 Jinja 模板。
+
 ### FAQ
 
 1. 当返回结果结束原因为 `"finish_reason":"length"`，这表示回话长度超过最大值。如需调整会话支持的最大长度，可以通过启动`api_server`时，设置`--session_len`参数大小。
diff --git a/lmdeploy/cli/serve.py b/lmdeploy/cli/serve.py
index ed9cc5a17d..9392f61cee 100644
--- a/lmdeploy/cli/serve.py
+++ b/lmdeploy/cli/serve.py
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ def add_parser_api_server():
 
         # chat template args
         ArgumentHelper.meta_instruction(parser)
+        ArgumentHelper.jinja_template(parser)
         ArgumentHelper.cap(parser)
 
         # pytorch engine args
@@ -210,6 +211,7 @@ def gradio(args):
         chat_template_config = ChatTemplateConfig(
             model_name=args.model_name,
             meta_instruction=args.meta_instruction,
+            jinja_template=args.jinja_template,
             capability=args.cap)
         run(args.model_path_or_server,
             server_name=args.server_name,
@@ -244,7 +246,8 @@ def api_server(args):
         chat_template_config = ChatTemplateConfig(
             model_name=args.model_name,
             meta_instruction=args.meta_instruction,
-            capability=args.cap)
+            capability=args.cap,
+            jinja_template=args.jinja_template)
         run_api_server(args.model_path,
                        backend=args.backend,
                        backend_config=backend_config,
diff --git a/lmdeploy/cli/utils.py b/lmdeploy/cli/utils.py
index 1eb7bbbc60..db22298145 100644
--- a/lmdeploy/cli/utils.py
+++ b/lmdeploy/cli/utils.py
@@ -326,6 +326,18 @@ def meta_instruction(parser):
                                    default=None,
                                    help='System prompt for ChatTemplateConfig')
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def jinja_template(parser):
+        """Add argument jinjia template to parser."""
+
+        return parser.add_argument(
+            '--jinja-template',
+            type=str,
+            default=None,
+            help=\
+            'The file path to the chat template, or the template in single-line form. Could refer to https://huggingface.co/docs/transformers/main/en/chat_templating'  # noqa
+        )
+
     @staticmethod
     def cache_max_entry_count(parser):
         """Add argument cache_max_entry_count to parser."""
diff --git a/lmdeploy/model.py b/lmdeploy/model.py
index ed7b08e8b5..3868572b01 100644
--- a/lmdeploy/model.py
+++ b/lmdeploy/model.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 # Copyright (c) OpenMMLab. All rights reserved.
+import codecs
 import dataclasses
 import os
 from abc import abstractmethod
+from copy import deepcopy
 from typing import List, Literal, Optional
 
 from fuzzywuzzy import fuzz, process
@@ -34,7 +36,7 @@ class ChatTemplateConfig:
         capability: ('completion' | 'infilling' | 'chat' | 'python') = None
     """  # noqa: E501
 
-    model_name: str
+    model_name: str = None
     system: Optional[str] = None
     meta_instruction: Optional[str] = None
     eosys: Optional[str] = None
@@ -44,17 +46,35 @@ class ChatTemplateConfig:
     eoa: Optional[str] = None
     capability: Optional[Literal['completion', 'infilling', 'chat',
                                  'python']] = None
+    jinja_template: Optional[str] = None
 
     @property
     def chat_template(self):
         attrs = {
             key: value
             for key, value in dataclasses.asdict(self).items()
-            if value is not None
+            if value is not None and key != 'jinja_template'
         }
         model: BaseModel = MODELS.get(self.model_name).from_config(**attrs)
         return model
 
+    def get_jinja_template(self):
+        """Get the jinja template."""
+        if self.jinja_template is not None:
+            try:
+                with open(self.jinja_template, 'r') as f:
+                    template = f.read()
+            except OSError:
+                # If opening a file fails, set chat template to be args to
+                # ensure we decode so our escape are interpreted correctly
+                template = codecs.decode(self.jinja_template, 'unicode_escape')
+            return template
+        return None
+
+    def copy(self):
+        """Get a copy of the class."""
+        return deepcopy(self)
+
 
 @MODELS.register_module(name='internlm')
 @MODELS.register_module(name='llama')
diff --git a/lmdeploy/serve/async_engine.py b/lmdeploy/serve/async_engine.py
index bd81372c9e..2cc8ba3635 100644
--- a/lmdeploy/serve/async_engine.py
+++ b/lmdeploy/serve/async_engine.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import dataclasses
 import random
 from argparse import ArgumentError
+from asyncio.log import logger
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from queue import Empty, Queue
 from threading import Thread
@@ -65,23 +66,26 @@ def __init__(self,
                  tp: int = 1,
                  **kwargs) -> None:
         if backend == 'turbomind':
-            self._build_turbomind(model_path=model_path,
-                                  model_name=model_name,
-                                  backend_config=backend_config,
-                                  chat_template_config=chat_template_config,
-                                  tp=tp,
-                                  **kwargs)
+            self._build_turbomind(
+                model_path=model_path,
+                model_name=model_name,
+                backend_config=backend_config,
+                chat_template_config=chat_template_config.copy(),
+                tp=tp,
+                **kwargs)
         elif backend == 'pytorch':
-            self._build_pytorch(model_path=model_path,
-                                model_name=model_name,
-                                backend_config=backend_config,
-                                chat_template_config=chat_template_config,
-                                **kwargs)
+            self._build_pytorch(
+                model_path=model_path,
+                model_name=model_name,
+                backend_config=backend_config,
+                chat_template_config=chat_template_config.copy(),
+                **kwargs)
         else:
             raise ValueError(f'unsupported backend {backend}')
         self.backend = backend
         self.instance_num = self.backend_config.max_batch_size
         self.tokenizer = self.engine.tokenizer
+        self._load_chat_template(chat_template_config)
         self.id2step = {}
         self.id2generator = {}
         self.loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
@@ -89,6 +93,31 @@ def __init__(self,
         for i in range(self.instance_num):
             self.gens_set.add(self.engine.create_instance())
 
+    def _load_chat_template(self, chat_template_config: ChatTemplateConfig):
+        """Load a chat template from chat_template_config.
+
+        Priority:
+        1. chat_template_config.model_name
+        2. chat_template_config.jinja_template
+        3. jinja template in tokenizer_config.json
+        4. deduced chat_template in lmdeploy
+        """
+        # if model_name is given, lmdeploy template will be applied
+        # no matter what Jinja template
+        if chat_template_config and chat_template_config.model_name:
+            return
+        # if no model_name passed in, will choose tokenizer's template
+        # it could be a Jinja if it exists in tokenizer_config.json
+        # if there is no Jinja template in tokenizer_config.json, a deduced
+        # lmdeploy template will be applied
+        if type(self.tokenizer.model.chat_template) == str:
+            self.chat_template = self.tokenizer.model.chat_template
+
+        # user defined Jinja template will be applied once a user pass
+        # a Jinja template in instead of a model name
+        if chat_template_config and chat_template_config.jinja_template:
+            self.chat_template = chat_template_config.get_jinja_template()
+
     def _build_turbomind(
             self,
             model_path: str,
@@ -440,7 +469,21 @@ async def generate(
             gen_config.random_seed = random.getrandbits(64)
         prompt = messages
         if do_preprocess:
-            prompt = self.chat_template.messages2prompt(prompt, sequence_start)
+            if type(prompt) == str:
+                if hasattr(self.chat_template, 'messages2prompt'):
+                    prompt = self.chat_template.messages2prompt(
+                        prompt, sequence_start)
+                else:
+                    # TODO better logger
+                    logger.warning(f'{self.chat_template} Jinja chat template'
+                                   f' Can not be used for interactive chat. '
+                                   'Please use lmdeploy defined chat template '
+                                   'by passing in a model name.')
+            else:
+                # support
+                prompt = self.tokenizer.apply_chat_template(prompt,
+                                                            self.chat_template,
+                                                            tokenize=False)
         input_ids = self.tokenizer.encode(prompt, add_bos=sequence_start)
         finish_reason = None
         if self.id2step[str(session_id)] + len(
diff --git a/lmdeploy/serve/openai/api_server.py b/lmdeploy/serve/openai/api_server.py
index 2a645f2d75..8d1bf20927 100644
--- a/lmdeploy/serve/openai/api_server.py
+++ b/lmdeploy/serve/openai/api_server.py
@@ -957,7 +957,6 @@ def serve(model_path: str,
         backend_config (TurbomindEngineConfig | PytorchEngineConfig): beckend
             config instance. Default to none.
         chat_template_config (ChatTemplateConfig): chat template configuration.
-            Default to None.
         server_name (str): host ip for serving
         server_port (int): server port
         tp (int): tensor parallel
diff --git a/lmdeploy/tokenizer.py b/lmdeploy/tokenizer.py
index b37a5a2483..1c8eb8482f 100644
--- a/lmdeploy/tokenizer.py
+++ b/lmdeploy/tokenizer.py
@@ -3,10 +3,11 @@
 import os.path as osp
 from collections import deque
 from dataclasses import dataclass
-from typing import List, Optional, Sequence, Tuple, Union
+from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Sequence, Tuple, Union
 
 import torch
 
+from lmdeploy.model import MODELS, BaseModel, best_match_model
 from lmdeploy.utils import get_logger
 
 # this file will be copied to triton server, make sure all
@@ -195,6 +196,16 @@ def __init__(self, model_dir: str):
         self.logger = get_logger('lmdeploy')
         self.model = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(model_dir,
                                                    trust_remote_code=True)
+
+        # get chat template from hf
+        self.chat_template = self.model.chat_template
+        deduced_name = best_match_model(model_dir)
+        self.lmdeploy_chat_template = None  # for interactive chat
+        if deduced_name is not None:
+            # will apply if hf chat template is None
+            self.lmdeploy_chat_template = MODELS.get(deduced_name)()
+            self.chat_template = self.lmdeploy_chat_template
+
         self._prefix_space_tokens = None
 
         if self.model.eos_token_id is None:
@@ -465,6 +476,49 @@ def __call__(self, s: Union[str, Sequence[str]]):
         add_special_tokens = False
         return self.model(s, add_special_tokens=add_special_tokens)
 
+    def apply_chat_template(
+        self,
+        conversation: List[Dict[str, str]],
+        chat_template: Optional[Union[str, BaseModel]] = None,
+        add_generation_prompt: bool = False,
+        tokenize: bool = True,
+        padding: bool = False,
+        truncation: bool = False,
+        max_length: Optional[int] = None,
+        return_tensors: Optional[str] = None,
+        **tokenizer_kwargs,
+    ) -> Union[str, List[int]]:
+        """This is a function compatible with huggingface
+        AutoTokenizer.apply_chat_template.
+
+        Args:
+            conversation (List | str): type string for interactive chat.
+                List refers to OpenAI format messages.
+        """
+        if chat_template is None:
+            chat_template = self.chat_template
+        if hasattr(chat_template, 'messages2prompt'):
+            prompt = chat_template.messages2prompt(conversation)
+            if tokenize:
+                return self.encode(prompt)
+            else:
+                return prompt
+        elif isinstance(chat_template, str) or chat_template is None:
+            # apply hf chat template
+            return self.model.apply_chat_template(
+                conversation,
+                chat_template=chat_template,
+                add_generation_prompt=add_generation_prompt,
+                tokenize=tokenize,
+                padding=padding,
+                truncation=truncation,
+                max_length=max_length,
+                return_tensors=return_tensors,
+                **tokenizer_kwargs)
+        else:
+            raise TypeError(f'Unsupported chat_template type: {chat_template}'
+                            f' for {conversation}')
+
 
 class Tokenizer:
     """Tokenize prompts or de-tokenize tokens into texts.
@@ -574,3 +628,28 @@ def indexes_containing_token(self, token):
                 'than 1. Currently, it can not be used as stop words')
             return []
         return self.model.indexes_containing_token(token)
+
+    def apply_chat_template(
+        self,
+        conversation: Union[List[Dict[str, str]], str],
+        chat_template: Optional[str] = None,
+        add_generation_prompt: bool = False,
+        tokenize: bool = True,
+        padding: bool = False,
+        truncation: bool = False,
+        max_length: Optional[int] = None,
+        return_tensors: Optional[str] = None,
+        **tokenizer_kwargs,
+    ) -> Union[str, List[int]]:
+        """This is a function compatible with huggingface
+        AutoTokenizer.apply_chat_template."""
+        return self.model.apply_chat_template(
+            conversation,
+            chat_template=chat_template,
+            add_generation_prompt=add_generation_prompt,
+            tokenize=tokenize,
+            padding=padding,
+            truncation=truncation,
+            max_length=max_length,
+            return_tensors=return_tensors,
+            **tokenizer_kwargs)