diff --git a/rllm-cpp/src/rllm-cpp.rs b/rllm-cpp/src/rllm-cpp.rs
index f56d9b51..18276ce3 100644
--- a/rllm-cpp/src/rllm-cpp.rs
+++ b/rllm-cpp/src/rllm-cpp.rs
@@ -11,11 +11,16 @@ pub struct CppArgs {
     /// Name of .gguf file inside of the model folder/repo.
     #[arg(long, help_heading = "Model")]
     pub gguf: Option<String>,
+
+    /// How many model layers to offload to GPU (if available)
+    #[arg(long, short = 'g', help_heading = "Model")]
+    pub gpu_layers: Option<usize>,
 }
 
 #[actix_web::main]
 async fn main() -> () {
     let mut args = parse_with_settings::<CppArgs>();
     args.args.gguf = args.gguf;
+    args.args.n_gpu_layers = args.gpu_layers;
     rllm::server::server_main(args.args).await;
 }
diff --git a/rllm-cuda/src/lib.rs b/rllm-cuda/src/lib.rs
index 4deebf00..72285f5b 100644
--- a/rllm-cuda/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rllm-cuda/src/lib.rs
@@ -42,10 +42,12 @@ pub struct LoaderArgs {
     pub model_id: String,
     pub revision: Option<String>,
     pub local_weights: Option<String>,
-    pub gguf: Option<String>,
     pub alt: usize,
     pub aici: AiciConfig,
 
+    // llama.cpp-specific
+    pub gguf: Option<String>,
+    pub n_gpu_layers: Option<usize>,
     #[cfg(not(feature = "tch"))]
     pub(crate) cached_model: Option<llamacpp::Model>,
 
@@ -78,6 +80,7 @@ impl Default for LoaderArgs {
             alt: 0,
             dtype,
             device,
+            n_gpu_layers: None,
             #[cfg(not(feature = "tch"))]
             cached_model: None,
         }
diff --git a/rllm-cuda/src/llamacpp/loader.rs b/rllm-cuda/src/llamacpp/loader.rs
index fac72f51..34bfaf2e 100644
--- a/rllm-cuda/src/llamacpp/loader.rs
+++ b/rllm-cuda/src/llamacpp/loader.rs
@@ -46,12 +46,15 @@ fn do_load(args: &mut LoaderArgs) -> Result<cpp::Model> {
         let mut mparams = cpp::ModelParams::default();
         // TODO: make this configurable
         mparams.set_split_mode(cpp::SplitMode::None);
-        mparams.n_gpu_layers = 1000;
+        mparams.n_gpu_layers = args.n_gpu_layers.unwrap_or(0) as i32;
+        log::info!("{} layer(s) offloaded to GPU", mparams.n_gpu_layers);
         // don't GPU offload on Intel macs - it just fails there
         #[cfg(all(target_os = "macos", target_arch = "x86_64"))]
         {
-            log::warn!("disabling GPU (Intel macOS)");
-            mparams.n_gpu_layers = 0;
+            if mparams.n_gpu_layers > 0 {
+                log::warn!("disabling GPU (Intel macOS)");
+                mparams.n_gpu_layers = 0;
+            }
         }
 
         let m = cpp::Model::from_file(file.to_str().unwrap(), mparams)?;
diff --git a/rllm-cuda/src/server/mod.rs b/rllm-cuda/src/server/mod.rs
index f7be50f2..b2b7bf13 100644
--- a/rllm-cuda/src/server/mod.rs
+++ b/rllm-cuda/src/server/mod.rs
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ use std::{
 };
 use tokio::sync::mpsc::{channel, error::TryRecvError, Receiver, Sender};
 
+mod api;
 mod completion;
 mod openai;
-mod api;
 
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct APIError {
@@ -206,6 +206,8 @@ pub struct RllmCliArgs {
     // these are copied from command-specific parsers
     #[arg(skip)]
     pub gguf: Option<String>,
+    #[arg(skip)]
+    pub n_gpu_layers: Option<usize>,
 }
 
 #[actix_web::get("/v1/controllers/tags")]
@@ -594,6 +596,7 @@ pub async fn server_main(mut args: RllmCliArgs) -> () {
     loader_args.revision = args.revision.clone();
     loader_args.local_weights = args.local_weights.clone();
     loader_args.gguf = args.gguf.clone();
+    loader_args.n_gpu_layers = args.n_gpu_layers;
     if dtype.is_some() {
         loader_args.dtype = dtype;
     }