diff --git a/examples/run/run.cpp b/examples/run/run.cpp
index 0ad8bb15b27fb..465ee3ce020e3 100644
--- a/examples/run/run.cpp
+++ b/examples/run/run.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #if defined(_WIN32)
-#    include <windows.h>
 #    include <io.h>
+#    include <windows.h>
 #else
 #    include <sys/file.h>
 #    include <sys/ioctl.h>
@@ -12,12 +12,14 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <signal.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 
 #include <climits>
 #include <cstdarg>
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <cstring>
 #include <filesystem>
+#include <fstream>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <sstream>
 #include <string>
@@ -35,13 +37,14 @@
 #endif
 
 GGML_ATTRIBUTE_FORMAT(1, 2)
+
 static std::string fmt(const char * fmt, ...) {
     va_list ap;
     va_list ap2;
     va_start(ap, fmt);
     va_copy(ap2, ap);
     const int size = vsnprintf(NULL, 0, fmt, ap);
-    GGML_ASSERT(size >= 0 && size < INT_MAX); // NOLINT
+    GGML_ASSERT(size >= 0 && size < INT_MAX);  // NOLINT
     std::string buf;
     buf.resize(size);
     const int size2 = vsnprintf(const_cast<char *>(buf.data()), buf.size() + 1, fmt, ap2);
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ static std::string fmt(const char * fmt, ...) {
 }
 
 GGML_ATTRIBUTE_FORMAT(1, 2)
+
 static int printe(const char * fmt, ...) {
     va_list args;
     va_start(args, fmt);
@@ -101,7 +105,8 @@ class Opt {
 
     llama_context_params ctx_params;
     llama_model_params   model_params;
-    std::string model_;
+    std::string          model_;
+    std::string          chat_template_;
     std::string          user;
     int                  context_size = -1, ngl = -1;
     float                temperature = -1;
@@ -137,7 +142,7 @@ class Opt {
     }
 
     int parse(int argc, const char ** argv) {
-        bool options_parsing   = true;
+        bool options_parsing = true;
         for (int i = 1, positional_args_i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
             if (options_parsing && (strcmp(argv[i], "-c") == 0 || strcmp(argv[i], "--context-size") == 0)) {
                 if (handle_option_with_value(argc, argv, i, context_size) == 1) {
@@ -166,6 +171,11 @@ class Opt {
 
                 ++positional_args_i;
                 model_ = argv[i];
+            } else if (options_parsing && strcmp(argv[i], "--chat-template") == 0) {
+                if (i + 1 >= argc) {
+                    return 1;
+                }
+                chat_template_ = argv[++i];
             } else if (positional_args_i == 1) {
                 ++positional_args_i;
                 user = argv[i];
@@ -475,7 +485,9 @@ class HttpClient {
         return (now_downloaded_plus_file_size * 100) / total_to_download;
     }
 
-    static std::string generate_progress_prefix(curl_off_t percentage) { return fmt("%3ld%% |", static_cast<long int>(percentage)); }
+    static std::string generate_progress_prefix(curl_off_t percentage) {
+        return fmt("%3ld%% |", static_cast<long int>(percentage));
+    }
 
     static double calculate_speed(curl_off_t now_downloaded, const std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point & start_time) {
         const auto                          now             = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
@@ -515,6 +527,7 @@ class HttpClient {
         printe("\r%*s\r%s%s| %s", get_terminal_width(), " ", progress_prefix.c_str(), progress_bar.c_str(),
                progress_suffix.c_str());
     }
+
     // Function to write data to a file
     static size_t write_data(void * ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void * stream) {
         FILE * out = static_cast<FILE *>(stream);
@@ -538,6 +551,7 @@ class LlamaData {
     std::vector<llama_chat_message> messages;
     std::vector<std::string>        msg_strs;
     std::vector<char>               fmtted;
+    std::string                     chat_template;
 
     int init(Opt & opt) {
         model = initialize_model(opt);
@@ -545,12 +559,15 @@ class LlamaData {
             return 1;
         }
 
+        chat_template = initialize_chat_template(model, opt);
+
         context = initialize_context(model, opt);
         if (!context) {
             return 1;
         }
 
         sampler = initialize_sampler(opt);
+
         return 0;
     }
 
@@ -573,21 +590,76 @@ class LlamaData {
     }
 #endif
 
-    int huggingface_dl(const std::string & model, const std::vector<std::string> headers, const std::string & bn) {
+    int huggingface_dl_tmpl(const std::string & hfr, const std::vector<std::string> headers, const std::string & tn) {
+        // if template already exists, don't download it
+        struct stat info;
+        if (stat(tn.c_str(), &info) == 0) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        const std::string config_url = "https://huggingface.co/" + hfr + "/resolve/main/tokenizer_config.json";
+        std::string       tokenizer_config_str;
+        download(config_url, headers, "", true, &tokenizer_config_str);
+        if (tokenizer_config_str.empty()) {
+            // still return success since tokenizer_config is optional
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        nlohmann::json config = nlohmann::json::parse(tokenizer_config_str);
+        std::string    tmpl   = config["chat_template"];
+
+        FILE * tmpl_file = fopen(tn.c_str(), "w");
+        if (tmpl_file == NULL) {
+            return 1;
+        }
+        fprintf(tmpl_file, "%s", tmpl.c_str());
+        fclose(tmpl_file);
+
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    int huggingface_dl(const std::string & model, const std::vector<std::string> headers, const std::string & bn,
+                       const std::string & tn) {
+        bool model_exists     = std::filesystem::exists(bn);
+        bool chat_tmpl_exists = std::filesystem::exists(tn);
+        if (model_exists && chat_tmpl_exists) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
         // Find the second occurrence of '/' after protocol string
         size_t pos = model.find('/');
         pos        = model.find('/', pos + 1);
         if (pos == std::string::npos) {
             return 1;
         }
-
         const std::string hfr = model.substr(0, pos);
         const std::string hff = model.substr(pos + 1);
-        const std::string url = "https://huggingface.co/" + hfr + "/resolve/main/" + hff;
-        return download(url, headers, bn, true);
+
+        if (!chat_tmpl_exists) {
+            const int ret = huggingface_dl_tmpl(hfr, headers, tn);
+            if (ret) {
+                return ret;
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (!model_exists) {
+            const std::string url = "https://huggingface.co/" + hfr + "/resolve/main/" + hff;
+            const int         ret = download(url, headers, bn, true);
+            if (ret) {
+                return ret;
+            }
+        }
+        return 0;
     }
 
-    int ollama_dl(std::string & model, const std::vector<std::string> headers, const std::string & bn) {
+    int ollama_dl(std::string & model, const std::vector<std::string> headers, const std::string & bn,
+                  const std::string & tn) {
+        bool model_exists     = std::filesystem::exists(bn);
+        bool chat_tmpl_exists = std::filesystem::exists(tn);
+        if (model_exists && chat_tmpl_exists) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
         if (model.find('/') == std::string::npos) {
             model = "library/" + model;
         }
@@ -607,16 +679,34 @@ class LlamaData {
         }
 
         nlohmann::json manifest = nlohmann::json::parse(manifest_str);
-        std::string    layer;
+        std::string    sha_model;
+        std::string    sha_template;
         for (const auto & l : manifest["layers"]) {
             if (l["mediaType"] == "application/vnd.ollama.image.model") {
-                layer = l["digest"];
-                break;
+                sha_model = l["digest"];
+            }
+            if (l["mediaType"] == "application/vnd.ollama.image.template") {
+                sha_template = l["digest"];
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (!chat_tmpl_exists && !sha_template.empty()) {
+            std::string tmpl_blob_url = "https://registry.ollama.ai/v2/" + model + "/blobs/" + sha_template;
+            const int   tmpl_ret      = download(tmpl_blob_url, headers, tn, true);
+            if (tmpl_ret) {
+                return tmpl_ret;
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (!model_exists) {
+            std::string model_blob_url = "https://registry.ollama.ai/v2/" + model + "/blobs/" + sha_model;
+            const int   model_ret      = download(model_blob_url, headers, bn, true);
+            if (model_ret) {
+                return model_ret;
             }
         }
 
-        std::string blob_url = "https://registry.ollama.ai/v2/" + model + "/blobs/" + layer;
-        return download(blob_url, headers, bn, true);
+        return 0;
     }
 
     std::string basename(const std::string & path) {
@@ -628,6 +718,15 @@ class LlamaData {
         return path.substr(pos + 1);
     }
 
+    std::string get_proto(const std::string & model_) {
+        const std::string::size_type pos = model_.find("://");
+        if (pos == std::string::npos) {
+            return "";
+        }
+
+        return model_.substr(0, pos + 3);  // Include "://"
+    }
+
     int remove_proto(std::string & model_) {
         const std::string::size_type pos = model_.find("://");
         if (pos == std::string::npos) {
@@ -638,30 +737,32 @@ class LlamaData {
         return 0;
     }
 
-    int resolve_model(std::string & model_) {
-        int                            ret     = 0;
-        if (string_starts_with(model_, "file://") || std::filesystem::exists(model_)) {
+    int resolve_model(std::string & model_, std::string & chat_template_) {
+        int ret = 0;
+        if (string_starts_with(model_, "file://")) {
             remove_proto(model_);
-
             return ret;
         }
 
+        std::string proto = get_proto(model_);
+        remove_proto(model_);
+
         const std::string              bn      = basename(model_);
+        const std::string              tn      = chat_template_.empty() ? bn + ".template" : chat_template_;
         const std::vector<std::string> headers = { "--header",
                                                    "Accept: application/vnd.docker.distribution.manifest.v2+json" };
-        if (string_starts_with(model_, "hf://") || string_starts_with(model_, "huggingface://")) {
-            remove_proto(model_);
-            ret = huggingface_dl(model_, headers, bn);
-        } else if (string_starts_with(model_, "ollama://")) {
-            remove_proto(model_);
-            ret = ollama_dl(model_, headers, bn);
-        } else if (string_starts_with(model_, "https://")) {
+        if (string_starts_with(proto, "hf://") || string_starts_with(proto, "huggingface://")) {
+            ret = huggingface_dl(model_, headers, bn, tn);
+        } else if (string_starts_with(proto, "ollama://")) {
+            ret = ollama_dl(model_, headers, bn, tn);
+        } else if (string_starts_with(proto, "https://")) {
             download(model_, headers, bn, true);
         } else {
-            ret = ollama_dl(model_, headers, bn);
+            ret = ollama_dl(model_, headers, bn, tn);
         }
 
-        model_ = bn;
+        model_         = bn;
+        chat_template_ = tn;
 
         return ret;
     }
@@ -669,7 +770,7 @@ class LlamaData {
     // Initializes the model and returns a unique pointer to it
     llama_model_ptr initialize_model(Opt & opt) {
         ggml_backend_load_all();
-        resolve_model(opt.model_);
+        resolve_model(opt.model_, opt.chat_template_);
         printe(
             "\r%*s"
             "\rLoading model",
@@ -702,6 +803,27 @@ class LlamaData {
 
         return sampler;
     }
+
+    std::string initialize_chat_template(const llama_model_ptr & model, const Opt & opt) {
+        // if no template file doesn't exists, just return an empty string
+        struct stat info;
+        if (stat(opt.chat_template_.c_str(), &info) != 0) {
+            return common_get_builtin_chat_template(model.get());
+        }
+
+        std::ifstream tmpl_file;
+        tmpl_file.open(opt.chat_template_);
+        if (tmpl_file.fail()) {
+            printe("failed to open chat template: '%s'\n", opt.chat_template_.c_str());
+            return "";
+        }
+
+        std::stringstream stream;
+        stream << tmpl_file.rdbuf();
+        tmpl_file.close();
+
+        return stream.str();
+    }
 };
 
 // Add a message to `messages` and store its content in `msg_strs`
@@ -713,11 +835,11 @@ static void add_message(const char * role, const std::string & text, LlamaData &
 // Function to apply the chat template and resize `formatted` if needed
 static int apply_chat_template(LlamaData & llama_data, const bool append) {
     int result = llama_chat_apply_template(
-        llama_model_chat_template(llama_data.model.get()), llama_data.messages.data(), llama_data.messages.size(), append,
+        llama_data.chat_template.c_str(), llama_data.messages.data(), llama_data.messages.size(), append,
         append ? llama_data.fmtted.data() : nullptr, append ? llama_data.fmtted.size() : 0);
     if (append && result > static_cast<int>(llama_data.fmtted.size())) {
         llama_data.fmtted.resize(result);
-        result = llama_chat_apply_template(llama_model_chat_template(llama_data.model.get()), llama_data.messages.data(),
+        result = llama_chat_apply_template(llama_data.chat_template.c_str(), llama_data.messages.data(),
                                            llama_data.messages.size(), append, llama_data.fmtted.data(),
                                            llama_data.fmtted.size());
     }
@@ -730,8 +852,8 @@ static int tokenize_prompt(const llama_vocab * vocab, const std::string & prompt
                            std::vector<llama_token> & prompt_tokens) {
     const int n_prompt_tokens = -llama_tokenize(vocab, prompt.c_str(), prompt.size(), NULL, 0, true, true);
     prompt_tokens.resize(n_prompt_tokens);
-    if (llama_tokenize(vocab, prompt.c_str(), prompt.size(), prompt_tokens.data(), prompt_tokens.size(), true,
-                       true) < 0) {
+    if (llama_tokenize(vocab, prompt.c_str(), prompt.size(), prompt_tokens.data(), prompt_tokens.size(), true, true) <
+        0) {
         printe("failed to tokenize the prompt\n");
         return -1;
     }