Model Registry: Torrents for open models using Hugging Face as a fallback web seed.

A new repository and site called Model Registry has been created to publish and share .torrent files for popular open models, utilizing Hugging Face as a fallback web seed. The project includes scripts to automate the process and a backend service that redirects BitTorrent clients to the correct Hugging Face endpoint.

• The system uses Hugging Face CDN as a fallback when no peers are available via standard BitTorrent protocols.
• A custom backend service handles redirection based on whether files are stored in LFS or not, adhering to BEP 0019.
• The project is currently experimental and works in progress, with plans to automate .torrent creation using GitHub Actions.
• Limitations include the ~100 GB disk space constraint of GitHub's free runners for models exceeding that size.

This approach aims to facilitate easier distribution of large open models by combining torrent efficiency with Hugging Face's infrastructure, though it remains an early-stage project subject to CDN reliability issues.