diff --git a/overlays/default.nix b/overlays/default.nix
index 1bcdcd0..393287c 100644
--- a/overlays/default.nix
+++ b/overlays/default.nix
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
         fastapi
         fastapi-cli
         httpx
+        huggingface-hub
         mypy
         orjson
         polars
diff --git a/python/prompt_bench/__init__.py b/python/prompt_bench/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc58a44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/prompt_bench/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Prompt benchmarking system for evaluating LLMs via vLLM."""
diff --git a/python/prompt_bench/downloader.py b/python/prompt_bench/downloader.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad7fba7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/prompt_bench/downloader.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+"""HuggingFace model downloader."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import tomllib
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Annotated
+
+import typer
+from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download
+
+from python.prompt_bench.models import BenchmarkConfig
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+def local_model_path(repo: str, model_dir: str) -> Path:
+    """Return the local directory path for a HuggingFace repo."""
+    return Path(model_dir) / repo
+
+
+def is_model_present(repo: str, model_dir: str) -> bool:
+    """Check if a model has already been downloaded."""
+    path = local_model_path(repo, model_dir)
+    return path.exists() and any(path.iterdir())
+
+
+def download_model(repo: str, model_dir: str) -> Path:
+    """Download a HuggingFace model to the local model directory.
+
+    Skips the download if the model directory already exists and contains files.
+    """
+    local_path = local_model_path(repo, model_dir)
+
+    if is_model_present(repo, model_dir):
+        logger.info("Model already exists: %s", local_path)
+        return local_path
+
+    logger.info("Downloading model: %s -> %s", repo, local_path)
+    snapshot_download(
+        repo_id=repo,
+        local_dir=str(local_path),
+    )
+    logger.info("Download complete: %s", repo)
+    return local_path
+
+
+def download_all(config: BenchmarkConfig) -> None:
+    """Download every model listed in the config, top to bottom."""
+    for repo in config.models:
+        download_model(repo, config.model_dir)
+
+
+def main(
+    config: Annotated[Path, typer.Option(help="Path to TOML config file")] = Path("bench.toml"),
+    log_level: Annotated[str, typer.Option(help="Log level")] = "INFO",
+) -> None:
+    """Download all models listed in the benchmark config."""
+    logging.basicConfig(level=log_level, format="%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(name)s: %(message)s")
+
+    if not config.is_file():
+        message = f"Config file does not exist: {config}"
+        raise typer.BadParameter(message)
+
+    with config.open("rb") as file:
+        raw = tomllib.load(file)
+
+    benchmark_config = BenchmarkConfig(**raw)
+    download_all(benchmark_config)
+
+
+def cli() -> None:
+    """Typer entry point."""
+    typer.run(main)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    cli()
diff --git a/python/prompt_bench/models.py b/python/prompt_bench/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f07084b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/prompt_bench/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+"""Pydantic models for benchmark configuration."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+
+class BenchmarkConfig(BaseModel):
+    """Top-level benchmark configuration loaded from TOML."""
+
+    models: list[str]
+    model_dir: str = "/zfs/models/hf"
+    port: int = 8000
+    gpu_memory_utilization: float = 0.90
+    temperature: float = 0.0
+    timeout: int = 300
+    concurrency: int = 4