What it does
Flashlight is a machine-learning library written entirely in the C++ programming language. Its makers say it came from Facebook AI Research and is small, fast and easy to change, down to its core maths.
It comes with ready-made applications for speech recognition (formerly the wav2letter project), image classification, object detection and language modelling.
Who it's for
Machine learning researchers and engineers who work in C++.
Can I use it without coding?
Developers only. It's a programming library that must be built and linked into C++ projects on Linux. New to this? Start here.
Can I run it?
- Cost
- FreeNothing to pay or sign up for.
- Runs on
- Linux
- Privacy
- Runs on your own device: your data stays with you
- API key
- Not needed
Try it
Using Claude Code, Cursor or another AI coding assistant? Paste the prompt and it will walk you through the setup.New to this?
Before you install
- Only download from the official GitHub page. Copies with similar names exist for many popular projects.
- License (MIT): Very permissive: free to use, change and share, including for business.
- More on staying safe