Model Merging

Mergekit is quietly powering some of the best models on HuggingFace leaderboards, and this skill walks you through actually using it. You can blend fine-tuned models without retraining to combine capabilities like math reasoning with coding or chat skills. The guide covers linear averaging, SLERP for smooth two-model interpolation, and fancier methods like TIES and DARE that handle conflicts when merging many specialized models. It includes real YAML configs for each approach and explains when to use what. The layer-wise merging patterns are especially useful if you want different model strengths at different depths. Runs on CPU, so no GPU costs, and you can experiment with new model variants in minutes instead of days of training.

Install to Claude Code

npx -y skills add orchestra-research/ai-research-skills --skill model-merging --agent claude-code