vLLM: serve multiple LoRA adapters from a single base model deployment (multi-LoRA)
domain: ml-ops · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Start the server with --enable-lora and register one or more adapters via --lora-modules {name}={path}, e.g. `vllm serve meta-llama/Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct --enable-lora --lora-modules sql-lora=jeeejeee/llama32-3b-text2sql-spider`.
Set sizing flags that apply to all adapters: --max-loras, --max-lora-rank (match the largest rank among the adapters you're serving, don't over-set it), and --max-cpu-loras.
Confirm registration by calling `GET /v1/models` — each LoRA adapter is listed alongside the base model (with the JSON form of --lora-modules, its parent field points back to the base model id).
Send inference requests specifying the adapter name in the model field, e.g. `curl http://localhost:8000/v1/completions -d '{"model": "sql-lora", "prompt": "San Francisco is a", "max_tokens": 7}'` — base-model and multiple LoRA requests are served concurrently.
To add/remove adapters without restarting the server, set VLLM_ALLOW_RUNTIME_LORA_UPDATING=True and POST to /v1/load_lora_adapter and /v1/unload_lora_adapter with a lora_name/lora_path JSON body.
Known gotchas
vLLM's own docs flag dynamic LoRA loading via the runtime-update endpoints as a security risk: "should not be used in production unless it is an isolated, fully trusted environment."
--max-lora-rank must cover the largest rank among adapters you plan to serve; setting it much higher than needed wastes memory and can hurt performance.
The older key=value form of --lora-modules (name=path) doesn't let you set base_model_name — use the JSON form (--lora-modules '{"name":..,"path":..,"base_model_name":..}') if you need that field populated.
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