How to delete Jan AI models without leaving residual files

Anyone who has ever tried tools like Ollama or LM Studio, you've probably come across Jan AIBasically, it's an application that lets us turn artificial intelligence into just another program on our computer, much like a web browser or a text editor. But that takes up space. How to remove models from Jan AI It then becomes necessary.

Unlike conventional chatbots that run in the cloud, Jan is installed directly on Windows, macOS or LinuxIts main appeal is that it is designed so that the entire process takes place locally, which guarantees that user privacy This should be the absolute priority, since the data does not leave our own hardware.

What exactly is Jan AI and how does it work?

For those unfamiliar, Jan is a free and open-source alternative to ChatGPT. The idea is simple: instead of sending your questions to Google or OpenAI servers, Download the language models You access the AI ​​on your PC and interact with them through a very intuitive interface. This means you could use AI even if you're on a plane without an internet connection.

The project is governed by the Apache 2.0 license and is based on three fundamental pillars. First, it is fully openbecause its code is available on GitHub for anyone to improve. Second, it's private, since all the computing is done with your own CPU or GPUAnd third, everything is your property: you decide what to install and when to delete everything.

At the heart of the application is an engine called CortexThis component is responsible for running the models and exposing them to the chat interface. This interface is what we see, with its list of conversations and the buttons for adjusting the assistant's parameters.

Installation and first steps

Getting Jan up and running is a fairly quick process. Just go to the official website and download the executable file for your operating system. Once opened, you'll find several options, although it's important to mention that the Spanish language It is not available in the menus, although the chat understands and responds perfectly in Spanish.

For those who don't want complications, there is the option of Quick start with the Jan modelIt's a generalist LLM that doesn't require complex configurations and can be used for writing, summarizing, or translating texts. In addition, the app includes very useful features such as... vision for analyzing images, the ability to attach PDF or Word documents and optional web search.

 

Local model management (GGUF)

Jan's strong point is... Model Hubwhere you can explore and download various artificial "brains." These models come in GGUF format, making them compatible with offline execution. Depending on your machine's power, you can choose from several options:

• Llama-3.2-Instruct: Very lightweight, ideal for PCs with little RAM and simple tasks.
• DeepSeek-R1-Distill: A fantastic balance between reasoning and resource consumption.
• Phi-3.5 and Phi-4 Mini: Microsoft models are very capable, with Phi-4 being the most consistent in long dialogues.
• Mistral-Nemo: Much more powerful and heavier (around 7 GB), it requires more than 32 GB of RAM or a dedicated GPU for smooth performance.

If you already have model files on your computer, you can import them directly from the engine settings. And you can delete Jan AI models without leaving a trace if you need to free up space on your computer. It's also possible to use Hugging Face direct links Pasting the model ID into the search bar of Jan's Hub.

How to remove Jan AI models without leaving a trace

Over time, downloading multiple models can quickly fill up your hard drive, as each one can take up several gigabytes. free up space effectively To avoid residual files, Jan offers a bulk cleaning tool.

To delete models from Jan AI, you need to navigate to the section of Settings and go into the Llama.cpp section (or MLX, as the case may be). There you will find an option called Delete All in the models section. When you click, the application will tell you how much space will be freed and will delete all the files managed by the program in one go.

It is important to note that this process cleans up the models downloaded through the Hub, but the files imported manually They might require different handling if they were not registered by Jan's engine.

Cloud models and local APIs

Although offline mode is the star, Jan also allows you to connect. cloud providers such as Azure, Anthropic, or Gemini. To do this, go to Settings, enter Model Providers, and insert the API key of the corresponding service. Unlike physical locations, these models are usually pay-per-use (tokens).

Another advanced feature is the local API serverIf you enable this option in the settings, Jan creates an endpoint in http://localhost:1337This is pure gold for developers, as it allows you to use Jan as a replacement for OpenAI in Python projects or integrate it with VS Code extensions like Continue.dev.

Having a tool that democratizes local AI allows any user, from a lawyer handling sensitive data to a programmer, to have a powerful assistant without sacrificing the sovereignty of your dataBy learning to manage and remove Jan AI models, we keep our team optimized and free of digital clutter.