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How to Benchmark Your Local LLM Stack: From SLERP to BM25 + Embeddings

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Opinions on LLMs Benchmark Local

Local LLM benchmarking just got practical. Bolt’s in-house eval framework, built by Mura, is turning local tests into repeatable playbooks [1]. That approach shows how to make evals production-friendly rather than one-off experiments.

In-House Frameworks Bolt’s method emphasizes repeatability and clear evaluation hooks, a pattern highlighted around Bolt’s framework crafted by Mura [1]. The takeaway: start with an internal eval flow you can reuse across models and prompts [1].

Hybrid Retrieval & Benchmarking A practical thread on local experiments describes a hybrid search setup: retrieval via BM25 or embeddings, a reranking stage, then synthesis by a larger model [2]. It also mentions a pre-retrieval step called query rewriting to expand the user query before lookups [2]. The upshot: mix-and-match retrieval and reranking to surface strong candidates before final synthesis [2].

Self-Improving Benchmarking FlashInfer-Bench pushes LLM serving toward a self-improving loop: standardized kernels, production-ready integration into FlashInfer, SGLang, and vLLM; and automatic kernel replacement via the FIBENABLEAPPLY pathway [3]. This is a concrete example of moving benchmarks into live optimization cycles [3].

Local Benchmarking Hurdles A post around Humaneval notes difficulty benchmarking local models due to sparse or unclear docs, highlighting a common real-world pain point [4].

Closing thought: start with an in-house eval scaffold, pair BM25/embeddings with reranking, and borrow the self-hosted optimization mindset from FlashInfer-Bench—all while keeping an eye on documentation gaps in repos like Humaneval [4].

Referenced POST IDs: [1, 2, 3, 4]

References

[1]
HackerNews

Bolt – How Mura Wrote an In-House LLM Eval Framework

Describes Bolt's in-house LLM evaluation framework by Mura, illustrating methodology, criteria, and biases in benchmarks and results for assessing models.

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[2]
Reddit

Here's an example of the kind of experiment that can and should be run on a local system. I hope you find it interesting:

Describes local LLaMA experiments; explains hybrid retrieval (BM25 + embeddings), pre-retrieval query rewriting, and stepwise prompting insights.

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[3]
Reddit

FlashInfer-Bench: Building the Virtuous Cycle for AI-driven LLM Systems

Workflow to benchmark and auto-replace LLM serving kernels for self-improving AI systems and production integration

View source
[4]
Reddit

Benchmark Local LLM

User seeks guidance to benchmark local LLMs using humaneval; reports poor repo instructions and requests assistance please today.

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