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Show HN: Jan-nano, 4B agentic model that outperforms DeepSeek-v3-671B using MCP
We’ve been experimenting with how far a tiny model can go when it’s good at calling external tools - and have just released Jan-nano, a 4 B model trained for MCP.
Jan-nano:
- tops DeepSeek-V3-671B on MCP tool-use (SimpleQA 80.7%)
- handles live web search and multi-step deep research
- runs fully on-device (≈4GB VRAM)
Tech notes
- Base: Qwen3-4B
- Fine-tuning: DAPO
- We're going to release the full technical report soon
Links
- Demo tweet: https://x.com/menloresearch/status/1934809407604576559 https://x.com/menloresearch/status/1934809407604576559
- Model + GGUF: https://huggingface.co/collections/Menlo/jan-nano-684f6ebfe9ed640fddc55be7 https://huggingface.co/collections/Menlo/jan-nano-684f6ebfe9...
- Jan Beta desktop (viewer/runner): https://jan.ai/docs/desktop/beta https://jan.ai/docs/desktop/beta
How to try it:
- Install Jan Beta (macOS/Win/Linux): https://jan.ai/docs/desktop/beta https://jan.ai/docs/desktop/beta
- Go Jan Hub and download Jan-nano (onboarding steps help you to download it)
- Get your free Serper API key to test deep research & real-time web search: https://serper.dev/ https://serper.dev/
- Settings -> MCP -> paste your SERPER_API_KEY (gives the model web search access).
We’re testing Jan-nano inside Jan's beta (an open-source ChatGPT alternative). Feedback on both the model and the app is very welcome.
If setup feels clunky, follow us on X for a short walkthrough video (coming soon) or join our community chat.
- X: https://x.com/menloresearch https://x.com/menloresearch
- Discord: https://discord.gg/Exe46xPMbK https://discord.gg/Exe46xPMbK
Huge credit to the Qwen team for the base model.