Running LM-Studio Headlessly on Ubuntu 24.04 with CUDA and Systemd

Tested with:

OS: Ubuntu 24.04
CUDA: Version 12
LM-Studio: LM-Studio-0.3.16-8-x64.AppImage

🛠️ Prerequisites

Install all required libraries for the LM-Studio AppImage and headless operation:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  appimage \
  fuse \
  libasound2-dev \
  libgtk3 \
  libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 \
  xvfb \
  xauth \
  libasound2t64 \
  libcups2-dev \
  libatk1.0-0t64

📦 Download LM-Studio AppImage

Download and make the AppImage executable:

cd ~
curl -o LM_Studio.AppImage https://releases.lmstudio.ai/linux/x86/0.3.16/8/LM_Studio-0.3.16-8-x64.AppImage
chmod +x LM_Studio.AppImage

🧾 Create systemd Unit Files

Create the following two systemd unit files under ~/.config/systemd/user/.

xvfb-user.service

[Unit]
Description=XVFB Virtual Display
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
EnvironmentFile=%h/lmstudio.env
ExecStartPre=-/bin/rm -f /tmp/.X${DISPLAY#*:}-lock
ExecStartPre=-/bin/rm -f /tmp/.X11-unix/X${DISPLAY#*:}
ExecStart=/usr/bin/Xvfb $DISPLAY -screen 0 1920x1080x24 -ac +extension GLX +render -noreset
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

lmstudio-user.service

[Unit]
Description=LM-Studio Headless Service
After=xvfb-user.service

[Service]
Type=simple
EnvironmentFile=%h/lmstudio.env
WorkingDirectory=%h
ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/pkill -f lm-studio
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c './${LM_STUDIO} --no-sandbox'
ExecStop=-/usr/bin/pkill -f lm-studio
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

📁 Environment File

Create ~/lmstudio.env with the following content:

DISPLAY=:99
LM_STUDIO=LM_Studio.AppImage

Ensure DISPLAY is unique per user on multi-user systems.

🚀 Start & Enable Services

Start the virtual display and LM-Studio:

systemctl --user daemon-reexec
systemctl --user start xvfb-user
systemctl --user status xvfb-user
systemctl --user start lmstudio-user
systemctl --user status lmstudio-user

Enable them at boot:

systemctl --user enable xvfb-user
systemctl --user enable lmstudio-user

Allow auto-start on login:

sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER

🧠 Bootstrap the LMS CLI Tool

Run:

$HOME/.lmstudio/bin/lms bootstrap

This adds lms to your PATH upon next login.

🧪 Start LM-Studio Server

Start the server (without model):

$HOME/.lmstudio/bin/lms server start

🌐 Allow Remote Access (Optional)

Stop the service:

systemctl --user stop lmstudio-user

Edit the config:

nano $HOME/.lmstudio/.internal/http-server-config.json

Then change:

"address": "127.0.0.1"

to:

"address": "0.0.0.0"

Then restart:

systemctl --user start lmstudio-user
sleep 5
$HOME/.lmstudio/bin/lms server start

LM-Studio will now listen on all interfaces, default port 1234. You can now successfully use LM Studio for all your purposes!

Running LM-Studio headlessly on Ubuntu 24.04 with CUDA