Using Xet Storage

To access a Xet-aware version of the huggingface_hub, simply install the latest version:

pip install -U huggingface_hub

As of huggingface_hub 0.32.0, this will also install hf_xet. The hf_xet package integrates huggingface_hub with xet-core, the Rust client for the Xet backend.

If you use the transformers or datasets libraries, it’s already using huggingface_hub. So long as the version of huggingface_hub >= 0.32.0, no further action needs to be taken.

Where versions of huggingface_hub >= 0.30.0 and < 0.32.0 are installed, hf_xet must be installed explicitly:

pip install -U hf-xet

And that’s it! You now get the benefits of Xet deduplication for both uploads and downloads. Team members using a version of huggingface_hub < 0.30.0 will still be able to upload and download repositories through the backwards compatibility provided by the LFS bridge.

To see more detailed usage docs, refer to the huggingface_hub docs for:

• Upload
• Download
• Managing the hf_xet cache

Recommendations

Xet integrates seamlessly with the Hub’s current Python-based workflows. However, there are a few steps you may consider to get the most benefits from Xet storage:

• Use hf_xet: While Xet remains backward compatible with legacy clients optimized for Git LFS, the hf_xet integration with huggingface_hub delivers optimal chunk-based performance and faster iteration on large files.
• Utilize hf_xet environment variables: The default installation of hf_xet is designed to support the broadest range of hardware. To take advantage of setups with more network bandwidth or processing power read up on hf_xet’s environment variables to further speed up downloads and uploads.
• Leverage frequent, incremental commits: Xet’s chunk-level deduplication means you can safely make incremental updates to models or datasets. Only changed chunks are uploaded, so frequent commits are both fast and storage-efficient.
• Be Specific in .gitattributes: When defining patterns for Xet or LFS, use precise file extensions (e.g., *.safetensors, *.bin) to avoid unnecessarily routing smaller files through large-file storage.
• Prioritize community access: Xet substantially increases the efficiency and scale of large file transfers. Instead of structuring your repository to reduce its total size (or the size of individual files), organize it for collaborators and community users so they may easily navigate and retrieve the content they need.

Current Limitations

While Xet brings fine-grained deduplication and enhanced performance to Git-based storage, some features and platform compatibilities are still in development. As a result, keep the following constraints in mind when working with a Xet-enabled repository:

• 64-bit systems only: The hf_xet client currently requires a 64-bit architecture; 32-bit systems are not supported.
• Git client integration (git-xet): Under active development - coming soon, stay tuned!