ZK 0xZKnw / 2026
Independent projects — AI & blockchain Montpellier, FR · 43.61°N 3.88°E

ZK. AI, models & on-chain systems.

I build language models, local AI tools and on-chain applications. My main project is MLXL3: an inference engine and native Mac app, built with MLX and custom Metal kernels. Code and models are public.

01

About me

projects & internships · 2021—2026

I'm ZK, a computer science student in Montpellier. I started with blockchain in 2021, then worked on DeFi tools and smart contracts at Etherwave Labs. At Holonym Foundation, I contributed to TAP, Shield and AEX.

Most of my current work is on MLXL3 and Heretic NX: local inference, Metal kernels and model editing. I also trained frlm, a small French language model, from scratch.

fig. 01 · Projects & internships2021—2026
  1. 2021
    First blockchain projects
  2. 2025
    Etherwave Labs internship
    EventChain · RealFi track winner
  3. 2026
    Holonym Foundation internship
    ClawRS · locked · frlm
    MLXL3 · Heretic NX
02

Selected projects

six projects · public code
02

Heretic NX

2026 — python
model editing & evaluation

I wrote a model-editing engine to study how changes to model weights affect behavior. The PRIME pipeline selects edits and compares the resulting models against the original checkpoints.

I track capability scores and output drift, then publish the selected models, settings and evaluation results. The code uses streaming statistics to keep memory use down.

PyTorchPRIMEModel editingEvaluationGGUF
code & results ↗
fig. 03 · Heretic NX — capability checkPRIME
LFM2.5-8B-A1B / Q8 capability check · 854 questions base model 55.04% Heretic NX 55.04% difference 0.00 pt paired 95% interval: [-1.29, +1.29] pt

ARC-Challenge, HellaSwag and MMLU, evaluated after model selection. These scores describe this test set.

evaluation details ↗
03

frlm

2026 — python · pytorch
llm trained from scratch

I designed and trained a 58M-parameter French language model from scratch on an RTX 4060 with 8 GB of VRAM. I built the tokenizer and training pipeline, from pretraining to post-training, to explore reasoning at a small scale. The model uses a <think> scratchpad to work through problems, with arithmetic as one evaluation task.

PyTorchMuonGRPORLAIFBPE tokenizer
view source ↗
fig. 04 · frlm — example output
training loss · schematictokens seen →
parameters58M
vram budget8 GB
total gpu time~8 h
04

ClawRS

2026 — rust · ★ 5
local-first desktop app

I built a Rust desktop app for running language models locally. It combines llama.cpp inference with an agent workspace, 30+ tools, MCP support and granular permissions. It supports CUDA, Vulkan and Metal, with a French/English interface.

llama.cppGGUFCUDA / Vulkan / MetalMCPagentic tools
view source ↗
fig. 05 · ClawRS — local chatdesktop
you › summarize this repo and commit the changes
qwen3-8b.gguf cuda · 42 tok/s inference on device
built-in tools30+
local inference100%
gpu backends3
05

locked

2026 — rust · svelte
agent security harness

I built an agent harness that keeps API credentials outside the model's environment. Third-party calls go through TAP, while the tool sandbox has no direct network access. External calls are logged, and credentials stay in TAP.

TauriTAPsandboxingegress isolation
view source ↗
fig. 06 · locked — network accessegress model
agent tools · sandbox TAP holds keys internet APIs · services no socket · no DNS
ok  locked-tools has no path to an HTTP stack
ok  container runs --network none
ok  reqwest reachable only from locked-egress
ok  egress invariant holds.
egress gateway1
credentials in model context0
isolation layers3
06

EventChain

1st place · $5,000
2025 — typescript · solidity

I co-built EventChain with Etherwave Labs for the RealFi hackathon, where our team won first place in the human.tech track ($5,000). The platform addresses event no-shows through USDC deposits: attendees check in by QR code, and a smart contract redistributes absent participants' deposits to those who attend.

Next.jsSolidity ^0.8.30ethers.jsUSDCHuman Wallet
view source ↗
fig. 07 · escrow.sol — USDC flowsepolia
attendees no-shows escrow USDC locked deposit + bonus + bonus organizer
human.tech track1st
cash prize$5,000
deposit tokenUSDC
03

Experience

Holonym Foundation / Etherwave Labs
2026
Holonym Foundation
engineering intern — human.tech
  • Contributed to TAP, enabling AI agents to call third-party APIs while keeping credentials outside the model context
  • Contributed to Shield and AEX across the human.tech stack
2025
Etherwave Labs
engineering intern — DeFi × AI
  • Built an ElizaOS trading bot for the AI agent playground, combining news sentiment and MACD/RSI indicators with order execution on Hyperliquid
  • Developed an auto-rebalancing bot for Orca liquidity positions on Solana (work in progress)
  • Co-built EventChain for the RealFi hackathon — 1st place in the human.tech track
04

Currently

current work
a

MLXL3

Adding model support and improving decode speed, memory use and the Mac app.

b

Quantization

Working with EXL3 and GGUF. Comparing model size, speed and output quality at different precisions.

c

Heretic NX

Testing model edits, checking capability changes and publishing the results with the weights.

d

Agent infrastructure

Tool permissions and credential isolation, through locked and my work on TAP.

huggingface.co — latest releaseopen weights ↗
0xzknw/Granite-4.2-3B-Heretic-NX-PRIME-GGUF

A capability-preserving residual-stream edit of IBM Granite 4.2 3B, released as BF16, Q8_0 and Q4_K_M GGUF builds for LM Studio and llama.cpp.

text-generation reasoning gguf abliterated lm-studio
This model · all-time downloads—Loading…
All my models · all-time downloads—Loading…

Updating public Hugging Face download counts…

05

Contact

montpellier · remote-friendly

Let's talk.

For questions about a project or working together, message me on X. Source code is on GitHub; model downloads are on Hugging Face.