Hugging Face Hub Development Skill

When to Use This Skill

Trigger this skill when the user asks to:

• Make HTTP/curl requests to Hugging Face APIs
• Upload or download models/datasets using huggingface_hub Python library
• Use Inference Providers API (chat completion, text generation, image generation)
• Create or modify Gradio or Docker Spaces applications
• Work with GGUF models, PEFT/LoRA adapters, or quantization
• Load datasets with pandas, Polars, or DuckDB
• Set up webhooks, Jobs, or CI/CD automation
• Configure model cards, dataset cards, or Space YAML metadata
• Use @huggingface/hub or Transformers.js JavaScript packages
• Set up authentication, tokens, or security features
• Embed Spaces in websites or enable OAuth sign-in

Quick Reference

Authentication

# Python - Interactive login
from huggingface_hub import login
login()  # Opens browser or prompts for token

# Python - Programmatic login
login(token="hf_xxx")

# Environment variable (recommended for CI/production)
# export HF_TOKEN="hf_xxx"

# CLI login
huggingface-cli login

# Set token directly
huggingface-cli login --token hf_xxx

Get tokens at: https://huggingface.co/settings/tokens

Download Files

from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download, snapshot_download

# Single file
model_path = hf_hub_download(
    repo_id="user/model",
    filename="model.safetensors"
)

# Entire repository
local_dir = snapshot_download(repo_id="user/model")

# Specific revision
hf_hub_download(repo_id="user/model", filename="config.json", revision="v1.0")

# CLI download
huggingface-cli download HuggingFaceH4/zephyr-7b-beta
huggingface-cli download user/model model.safetensors

Upload Files

from huggingface_hub import upload_file, upload_folder, HfApi

# Single file
upload_file(
    path_or_fileobj="model.safetensors",
    path_in_repo="model.safetensors",
    repo_id="user/model"
)

# Entire folder
upload_folder(
    folder_path="./my_model",
    repo_id="user/model"
)

# Using HfApi
api = HfApi()
api.create_repo(repo_id="user/new-model", repo_type="model")
api.upload_file(path_or_fileobj="model.pt", path_in_repo="model.pt", repo_id="user/new-model")

Inference Providers

import os
from huggingface_hub import InferenceClient

client = InferenceClient(api_key=os.environ["HF_TOKEN"])

# Chat completion (OpenAI-compatible)
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

# Text generation
response = client.text_generation(
    "The answer to the universe is",
    model="meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct"
)

# Image generation
image = client.text_to_image(
    "A serene mountain landscape at sunset",
    model="black-forest-labs/FLUX.1-schnell"
)

curl:

curl https://router.huggingface.co/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Dataset Loading

import pandas as pd
import polars as pl

# Pandas with hf:// protocol
df = pd.read_parquet("hf://datasets/stanfordnlp/imdb/plain_text/train-00000-of-00001.parquet")

# Polars with hf:// protocol
df = pl.read_parquet("hf://datasets/stanfordnlp/imdb/plain_text/train-*.parquet")

# DuckDB
import duckdb
conn = duckdb.connect()
df = conn.execute("SELECT * FROM 'hf://datasets/stanfordnlp/imdb/plain_text/*.parquet' LIMIT 100").fetchdf()

Gradio Space (Minimal)

README.md:

---
title: My Space
emoji: 🚀
sdk: gradio
sdk_version: 5.0.0
app_file: app.py
---

app.py:

import gradio as gr
from transformers import pipeline

pipe = pipeline("text-classification", model="distilbert-base-uncased-finetuned-sst-2-english")

def classify(text):
    result = pipe(text)[0]
    return {result["label"]: result["score"]}

demo = gr.Interface(fn=classify, inputs="text", outputs="label")
demo.launch()

Space Configuration

---
title: My Application
emoji: 🤗
colorFrom: blue
colorTo: purple
sdk: gradio              # gradio, docker, or static
sdk_version: 5.0.0
python_version: "3.10"
app_file: app.py
app_port: 7860           # Docker only
suggested_hardware: t4-small  # or cpu-basic, a10g-small, etc.
pinned: true
models:
  - openai-community/gpt2
datasets:
  - mozilla-foundation/common_voice_13_0
hf_oauth: true           # Enable HF OAuth
preload_from_hub:
  - user/model config.json,model.safetensors
---

Hardware options:

• CPU: cpu-basic, cpu-upgrade
• GPU: t4-small, t4-medium, l4x1, l4x4, a10g-small, a10g-large, a100-large
• TPU: v5e-1x1, v5e-2x2, v5e-2x4

Model Card Metadata

---
language:
  - en
license: apache-2.0
library_name: transformers
pipeline_tag: text-classification
tags:
  - nlp
  - sentiment
datasets:
  - stanfordnlp/imdb
base_model: bert-base-uncased
metrics:
  - accuracy
---

Resources

Detailed documentation organized by topic:

references/

• api-http.md – curl/HTTP API examples for all endpoints
• python-sdk.md – huggingface_hub Python patterns (download, upload, HfApi)
• javascript-sdk.md – @huggingface/hub and Transformers.js
• inference-providers.md – InferenceClient and provider selection
• models-advanced.md – GGUF, PEFT/LoRA, quantization formats
• datasets-workflows.md – pandas, Polars, DuckDB data workflows
• spaces-config.md – Complete YAML configuration reference
• spaces-gradio.md – Building Gradio Spaces
• spaces-docker.md – Docker Spaces with secrets and permissions
• spaces-integration.md – Embedding, OAuth, MCP servers
• automation.md – Webhooks, Jobs, GitHub Actions
• security.md – Tokens, gating, scanning, SSO
• models.md – Model repositories, cards, and uploading
• datasets.md – Dataset repositories and configuration
• enterprise.md – Enterprise Hub features
• doc-syntax.md – Doc-builder markdown syntax

examples/

• inference-curl.sh – Complete curl examples for all APIs
• jupyter-pandas.py – Jupyter + pandas workflow
• browser-transformersjs.html – Browser inference with Transformers.js
• lora-peft-workflow.py – LoRA adapter find/load/merge workflow
• webhooks-auto-retrain.py – Webhook automation for retraining
• collections-api.py – Collections creation and management
• offline-setup.py – Offline/air-gapped environment setup
• space-embed-iframe.html – Embedding patterns for websites
• gradio-image-classifier.py – Image classification with gr.Interface
• gradio-chat-interface.py – Chat interface with HF model
• upload-model.py – PyTorchModelHubMixin complete example
• download-files.py – Various download patterns
• model-card.md – Model card template with metadata
• dataset-card.md – Dataset card template with metadata

patterns/

• missing-features.md – iOS, Next.js, full offline workarounds

Best Practices

1. Always use environment variables for tokens – Never hardcode hf_xxx tokens
2. Use .safetensors format – Preferred over .bin for model weights
3. Add comprehensive model cards – Include intended use, limitations, training data
4. Pin SDK versions in Spaces – Ensure reproducibility
5. Use preload_from_hub – Speed up Space startup by preloading models
6. Set appropriate hardware – Match compute needs to avoid OOM errors
7. Use fine-grained tokens – Minimize scope for production apps
8. Use Parquet for datasets – Much faster than CSV for large data