LM Studio is an innovative desktop application that brings the power of large language models to your local machine. It has been improved with the latest version, v0.3.0, including the ability to add your own documents and chat with them using any of the available models.

In this post, I’ll demonstrate how easy it is to leverage this new functionality using the PDF version of my book “.NET MAUI for C# Developers” which I co-authored with Jesse Liberty. All the screenshots below correspond to the current version of LM Studio (v0.3.2) as of the time of writing.

Getting Started: Loading Models and Documents

After you open LM Studio and load your preferred model you need to add your document(s) into your current chat. You can drag and drop the documents, or you can use the Attach button at the bottom of the app.

Supported File Formats and Size Limits

As you can see currently is limited to 5 files with a maximum combined size of 30MB and the supported formats include PDF, DOCX, TXT, and CSV. After adding your document, you will write your first message and send it. This will start the processing of your documents by the assistant and then the response to your prompt. LM Studio processes documents by adding short ones in full to conversations if they fit within the model’s context and using “Retrieval Augmented Generation” (RAG) for longer documents, which extracts relevant parts for reference.

Understanding Document Citations and Caching

At the end of the response, you can find the citation from where LM Studio is getting the information and access the cached document in your file system for further review.

After you delete the chat using the document, the cache would also be deleted.

Finding More Information

If you want additional information, you can check the official announcement.

Conclusion

LM Studio’s v0.3.0 update has made it easier to engage with large language models by allowing you to add your own documents and have interactive conversations with them. This new feature can be a valuable addition to your workflow, helping you streamline research and improve productivity.

Contact Trailhead if you’d like assistance with LM Studio, RAG, LLMs, or AI in general. Our team of experts can guide you through the setup, implementation, and integration of these tools into your software applications, helping you make the most of these powerful new technologies.