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# Manage Model Entities for Customization

Before running a customization job, you need to set up a **Model Entity** that points to your base model checkpoint. This section covers creating the required FileSet and Model Entity.

## Task Guides

#### [Create a Model FileSet](/documentation/customizer-reference/manage-model-entities/create-a-model-file-set)

Create a FileSet containing your base model checkpoint from Hugging Face, NGC, or local storage.

#### [Create a Model Entity](/documentation/customizer-reference/manage-model-entities/create-a-model-entity)

Create a Model Entity that references your FileSet and enables customization.

---

## Key Concepts

### What is a FileSet?

A **FileSet** is a collection of files managed by the platform. For customization, you create a FileSet containing:

* Model weights (`.safetensors`, `.bin`, or `.nemo` files)
* Model configuration (`config.json`)
* Tokenizer files (`tokenizer.json`, `tokenizer_config.json`, and so on)

FileSets can be populated from:

* **Hugging Face Hub** - Download directly from HF repositories
* **NGC** - Download from NVIDIA NGC catalogs
* **Local upload** - Upload files from your local machine

### What is a Model Entity?

A **Model Entity** is the platform's representation of a model. It contains:

* **FileSet reference** - Points to where the model files are stored
* **Model Spec** - Auto-populated metadata about the model architecture
* **Adapters** - LoRA or other adapters attached to this model (populated after training)
* **Base model link** - For fine-tuned models, links back to the parent

---

## Quick Start Example

Complete example of setting up a model for customization:

> **Tip**
>
> **Hugging Face Token**: If downloading from a gated Hugging Face repository (like Llama models), you will need to create a secret containing your Hugging Face API token first. Refer to [Manage Secrets](/documentation/get-started/core-concepts/manage-secrets) for instructions.

```python
import os
import time
from nemo_helix import NeMoHelix
from nemo_helix._exceptions import ConflictError
from nemo_helix_plugin.files.storage_config import HuggingfaceStorageConfig
from nemo_helix_plugin.files.types import CreateFilesetRequest

sdk = NeMoHelix(
    base_url=os.environ.get("NHX_BASE_URL", "http://localhost:8080"),
    workspace="default",
)

# Step 1: Create FileSet from Hugging Face (returns the existing FileSet if it already exists)
fileset = sdk.files.client.create_fileset(
    workspace="default",
    body=CreateFilesetRequest(
        name="qwen3-1.7b",
        description="Qwen3 1.7B base model from Hugging Face",
        storage=HuggingfaceStorageConfig(
            type="huggingface",
            repo_id="Qwen/Qwen3-1.7B",
            repo_type="model",
        ),
    ),
    exist_ok=True,
).data()
print(f"FileSet ready: {fileset.name}")

# Step 2: Create Model Entity
try:
    model = sdk.models.create(
        workspace="default",
        name="qwen3-1.7b",
        fileset="default/qwen3-1.7b",  # Reference to the FileSet
        description="Qwen3 1.7B base model for customization",
    )
    print(f"Created Model Entity: {model.name}")
except ConflictError:
    print("Model Entity already exists, retrieving...")
    model = sdk.models.retrieve(workspace="default", name="qwen3-1.7b")

# Step 3: Wait for ModelSpec to be auto-populated
print("Waiting for model spec to be populated...")
while not model.spec:
    time.sleep(5)
    model = sdk.models.retrieve(workspace="default", name="qwen3-1.7b")

print(f"Model ready!")
print(f" Architecture: {model.spec.family}")
print(f" Parameters: {model.spec.base_num_parameters:,}")
print(f" Layers: {model.spec.num_layers}")
```

After the Model Entity is ready (has a `spec`), you can use it in customization jobs with `model: "default/qwen3-1.7b"`.

---