diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5f7edde..563e7bc 100755
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -76,8 +76,16 @@ pip install -r requirements.txt
 pip install -r questions/inference_server/model-requirements.txt
 pip install -r dev-requirements.txt
 pip install -r requirements-test.txt
+pip install vllm  # optional, enables faster inference
 ```
 
+When installing `vllm` for the Smol models we use, the project recommends
+installing prebuilt kernels when available to get the best performance. Refer to
+the [vLLM installation guide](https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm#installation)
+for the latest GPU optimized wheels.
+
+Set `USE_VLLM=0` to force the server to skip vLLM even when installed.
+
 Using cuda is important to speed up inference.
 
 ```shell
diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index 1ca915f..6bf53e9 100755
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ pytest-asyncio
 requests-futures
 gradio
 black
+vllm
diff --git a/questions/inference_server/inference_server.py b/questions/inference_server/inference_server.py
index 88278a8..7c24ce4 100644
--- a/questions/inference_server/inference_server.py
+++ b/questions/inference_server/inference_server.py
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
     fast_inference,
     fast_feature_extract_inference,
 )
+from questions.vllm_inference import VLLM_AVAILABLE, vllm_inference
+USE_VLLM = os.getenv("USE_VLLM", "1") == "1"
 from questions.utils import log_time
 from sellerinfo import session_secret
 from .models import build_model
@@ -967,7 +969,10 @@ async def generate_route(
     #             status_code=401, detail="Please subscribe at https://text-generator.io/subscribe first"
     #         )
     # todo validate api key and user
-    inference_result = fast_inference(generate_params, MODEL_CACHE)
+    if VLLM_AVAILABLE and USE_VLLM:
+        inference_result = vllm_inference(generate_params, weights_path_tgz)
+    else:
+        inference_result = fast_inference(generate_params, MODEL_CACHE)
     # todo vuln
     if request and background_tasks:
         if (
@@ -1347,3 +1352,4 @@ def tts_demo(request: Request):
 #         return HTTPException(status_code=500, detail=f"Error generating text: {str(e)}")
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    pass
diff --git a/questions/vllm_inference.py b/questions/vllm_inference.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b188bdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/questions/vllm_inference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+import math
+from typing import List
+
+try:
+    from vllm import LLM, SamplingParams
+    from vllm.utils import logits_to_probs
+    VLLM_AVAILABLE = True
+except Exception:
+    from typing import Any
+    LLM = Any  # type: ignore
+    SamplingParams = Any  # type: ignore
+    logits_to_probs = None  # type: ignore
+    VLLM_AVAILABLE = False
+
+from nltk.tokenize import sent_tokenize
+
+from questions.models import GenerateParams
+from questions.fixtures import set_stop_reason
+
+VLLM_MODEL = None
+
+
+def load_vllm(model_path: str):
+    global VLLM_MODEL
+    if VLLM_MODEL is None:
+        if not VLLM_AVAILABLE:
+            raise RuntimeError("vLLM is not installed")
+        VLLM_MODEL = LLM(model=model_path, dtype="auto")
+    return VLLM_MODEL
+
+
+def vllm_inference(generate_params: GenerateParams, model_path: str) -> List[dict]:
+    if not VLLM_AVAILABLE:
+        raise RuntimeError("vLLM is not installed")
+    llm = load_vllm(model_path)
+
+    sampling_params = SamplingParams(
+        n=generate_params.number_of_results,
+        temperature=generate_params.temperature,
+        top_p=generate_params.top_p,
+        top_k=generate_params.top_k,
+        max_tokens=generate_params.max_length,
+        stop=generate_params.stop_sequences,
+        logprobs=1,
+    )
+
+    results = []
+    outputs = llm.generate([generate_params.text], sampling_params)
+    output = outputs[0]
+    for seq in output.outputs:
+        text = seq.text
+        logprobs = seq.logprobs or []
+        stop_reason = "max_length"
+
+        if generate_params.min_probability:
+            cumulative = 1.0
+            cut_idx = None
+            for i, lp in enumerate(logprobs):
+                cumulative *= math.exp(lp)
+                if cumulative < generate_params.min_probability:
+                    cut_idx = i
+                    stop_reason = "min_probability"
+                    break
+            if cut_idx is not None:
+                words = text.split()
+                text = " ".join(words[: cut_idx + 1])
+
+        if generate_params.max_sentences:
+            sentences = sent_tokenize(text)
+            if len(sentences) > generate_params.max_sentences:
+                text = " ".join(sentences[: generate_params.max_sentences])
+                stop_reason = "max_sentences"
+
+        results.append({"generated_text": text, "stop_reason": stop_reason})
+    return results
diff --git a/requirements-test.txt b/requirements-test.txt
index ee8652b..f0957b3 100644
--- a/requirements-test.txt
+++ b/requirements-test.txt
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ numpy
 ruff==0.11.10
 httpx
 colorama
+vllm
diff --git a/requirements.in b/requirements.in
index a996c45..343152a 100755
--- a/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements.in
@@ -51,3 +51,4 @@ httpcore
 pillow
 pyppeteer
 markitdown[all]==0.1.2
+vllm
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 7f19911..596f13b 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -339,3 +339,4 @@ youtube-transcript-api==1.0.3
     # via markitdown
 zipp==3.22.0
     # via importlib-metadata
+vllm
diff --git a/scripts/run_vllm.py b/scripts/run_vllm.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d2fe8eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/run_vllm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""Simple CLI for running vLLM inference."""
+import argparse
+from questions.vllm_inference import vllm_inference, VLLM_AVAILABLE
+from questions.models import GenerateParams
+from questions.constants import weights_path_tgz
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Generate text using vLLM")
+    parser.add_argument("text", help="prompt text")
+    parser.add_argument("--max-length", type=int, default=100)
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    params = GenerateParams(text=args.text, max_length=args.max_length)
+    if not VLLM_AVAILABLE:
+        raise SystemExit("vLLM is not installed")
+    result = vllm_inference(params, weights_path_tgz)[0]
+    print(result["generated_text"])
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_vllm_env.py b/tests/unit/test_vllm_env.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2679ec4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_vllm_env.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import os
+import importlib
+import pytest
+
+from questions.vllm_inference import VLLM_AVAILABLE
+
+
+def test_use_vllm_env_flag(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("USE_VLLM", "0")
+    try:
+        module = importlib.reload(
+            importlib.import_module("questions.inference_server.inference_server")
+        )
+    except ModuleNotFoundError:
+        pytest.skip("torch or other deps missing")
+    assert (module.USE_VLLM is False) or (not VLLM_AVAILABLE)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_vllm_inference.py b/tests/unit/test_vllm_inference.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1a7e77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_vllm_inference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import pytest
+from questions.vllm_inference import VLLM_AVAILABLE, vllm_inference
+from questions.models import GenerateParams
+
+
+def test_vllm_import_flag():
+    assert isinstance(VLLM_AVAILABLE, bool)
+
+
+def test_vllm_inference_raises_when_missing():
+    if VLLM_AVAILABLE:
+        pytest.skip("vLLM installed, skip missing test")
+    params = GenerateParams(text="hi")
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError):
+        vllm_inference(params, "models/SmolLM-1.7B")