diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1d4bcf45f5..5a74ba1e35 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ option(LLAMA_BUILD_SERVER    "llama: build server example"
 option(LLAMA_BUILD_APP       "llama: build the unified binary"                                                   ${LLAMA_STANDALONE})
 option(LLAMA_BUILD_UI        "llama: build the embedded Web UI for server"                                       OFF)
 option(LLAMA_USE_PREBUILT_UI "llama: use prebuilt UI from HF Bucket when available" ON)
+option(LLAMA_CONNECT         "llama: include the llama-connect tool (downloads a prebuilt binary)"               OFF)
 
 option(LLAMA_TOOLS_INSTALL "llama: install tools" ${LLAMA_TOOLS_INSTALL_DEFAULT})
 option(LLAMA_TESTS_INSTALL "llama: install tests" ON)
diff --git a/scripts/connect-download.cmake b/scripts/connect-download.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ce11479210
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/connect-download.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# download the prebuilt llama-connect binary for the given platform
+# the release assets are made by: https://github.com/ggml-org/llama-connect/blob/master/.github/workflows/build.yml
+
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.18)
+
+set(REPO     "" CACHE STRING "GitHub repository to download from (owner/name)")
+set(VERSION  "" CACHE STRING "Release tag to download, or 'latest'")
+set(PLATFORM "" CACHE STRING "Platform suffix of the release asset (ex: linux-x64)")
+set(OUT_DIR  "" CACHE STRING "Directory to place the binary into")
+set(WORK_DIR "" CACHE STRING "Scratch directory used for the download")
+
+if (PLATFORM MATCHES "^win-")
+    set(ASSET  "llama-connect-${PLATFORM}.zip")
+    set(BINARY "llama-connect.exe")
+else()
+    set(ASSET  "llama-connect-${PLATFORM}.tar.gz")
+    set(BINARY "llama-connect")
+endif()
+
+if (VERSION STREQUAL "latest")
+    set(URL "https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/latest/download/${ASSET}")
+else()
+    set(URL "https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/download/${VERSION}/${ASSET}")
+endif()
+
+set(DST     "${OUT_DIR}/${BINARY}")
+set(ARCHIVE "${WORK_DIR}/${ASSET}")
+set(STAMP   "${WORK_DIR}/${BINARY}.url")
+
+# skip if already downloaded from the same URL
+if (EXISTS "${DST}" AND EXISTS "${STAMP}")
+    file(READ "${STAMP}" prev_url)
+    if (prev_url STREQUAL "${URL}")
+        return()
+    endif()
+endif()
+
+file(REMOVE "${STAMP}")
+file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${WORK_DIR}")
+
+message(STATUS "llama-connect: downloading ${URL}")
+
+file(DOWNLOAD "${URL}" "${ARCHIVE}" STATUS status TLS_VERIFY ON)
+
+list(GET status 0 code)
+list(GET status 1 msg)
+
+if (NOT code EQUAL 0)
+    file(REMOVE "${ARCHIVE}")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR
+        "llama-connect: failed to download ${URL} (${code}: ${msg})\n"
+        "  use -DLLAMA_CONNECT_VERSION=<tag> to select another release, "
+        "or -DLLAMA_CONNECT=OFF to skip this tool")
+endif()
+
+set(EXTRACT_DIR "${WORK_DIR}/extract")
+
+file(REMOVE_RECURSE "${EXTRACT_DIR}")
+file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${EXTRACT_DIR}")
+file(ARCHIVE_EXTRACT INPUT "${ARCHIVE}" DESTINATION "${EXTRACT_DIR}")
+
+if (NOT EXISTS "${EXTRACT_DIR}/${BINARY}")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "llama-connect: ${ASSET} does not contain ${BINARY}")
+endif()
+
+file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${OUT_DIR}")
+file(COPY "${EXTRACT_DIR}/${BINARY}" DESTINATION "${OUT_DIR}"
+    FILE_PERMISSIONS
+        OWNER_READ OWNER_WRITE OWNER_EXECUTE
+        GROUP_READ GROUP_EXECUTE
+        WORLD_READ WORLD_EXECUTE
+)
+
+file(WRITE "${STAMP}" "${URL}")
+
+message(STATUS "llama-connect: ready at ${DST}")
diff --git a/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
index c8ad1db436..6a6592c7bf 100644
--- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ else()
     if (GGML_RPC)
         add_subdirectory(rpc)
     endif()
+    if (LLAMA_CONNECT)
+        add_subdirectory(connect)
+    endif()
     if (NOT GGML_BACKEND_DL AND GGML_CPU)
         # these tools use backends directly (no dynamic loading) and depend on CPU backend symbols
         add_subdirectory(cvector-generator)
diff --git a/tools/connect/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/connect/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c36f7642bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/connect/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+# llama-connect is developed in a separate repo, nothing is compiled here
+# we only download the prebuilt binary, see scripts/connect-download.cmake
+
+set(TARGET llama-connect)
+
+set(LLAMA_CONNECT_REPO    "ggml-org/llama-connect" CACHE STRING "llama-connect: GitHub repository to download from")
+set(LLAMA_CONNECT_VERSION "latest"                 CACHE STRING "llama-connect: release tag to download (ex: v0.0.1), or 'latest'")
+
+# map the target platform to the release asset name
+set(LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM "")
+
+if (APPLE)
+    set(_arch "${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR}")
+    if (CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES)
+        list(LENGTH CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES _narch)
+        if (_narch EQUAL 1)
+            set(_arch "${CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES}")
+        else()
+            set(_arch "universal") # no such asset, so the tool is skipped below
+        endif()
+    endif()
+
+    if (_arch MATCHES "^(arm64|aarch64)$")
+        set(LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM "macos-arm64")
+    elseif (_arch MATCHES "^(x86_64|AMD64|amd64|x64)$")
+        set(LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM "macos-x64")
+    endif()
+elseif (WIN32)
+    # with Visual Studio generators, the target arch comes from -A
+    set(_arch "${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR}")
+    if (CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM)
+        set(_arch "${CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM}")
+    endif()
+
+    if (_arch MATCHES "^(x86_64|AMD64|amd64|x64)$")
+        set(LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM "win-x64")
+    endif()
+elseif (CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Linux")
+    if (CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR MATCHES "^(x86_64|AMD64|amd64|x64)$")
+        set(LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM "linux-x64")
+    elseif (CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR MATCHES "^(arm64|aarch64)$")
+        set(LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM "linux-arm64")
+    endif()
+endif()
+
+if (LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM STREQUAL "")
+    message(WARNING "llama-connect: no prebuilt binary for ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME}/${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR}, skipping")
+    return()
+endif()
+
+if (LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM MATCHES "^win-")
+    set(LLAMA_CONNECT_BINARY "llama-connect.exe")
+else()
+    set(LLAMA_CONNECT_BINARY "llama-connect")
+endif()
+
+# multi-config generators put the binaries in a per-config subdir
+get_property(LLAMA_CONNECT_MULTI_CONFIG GLOBAL PROPERTY GENERATOR_IS_MULTI_CONFIG)
+if (LLAMA_CONNECT_MULTI_CONFIG)
+    set(LLAMA_CONNECT_OUT_DIR "${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/$<CONFIG>")
+else()
+    set(LLAMA_CONNECT_OUT_DIR "${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}")
+endif()
+
+# the script is a no-op if the binary is already downloaded
+add_custom_target(${TARGET} ALL
+    BYPRODUCTS "${LLAMA_CONNECT_OUT_DIR}/${LLAMA_CONNECT_BINARY}"
+    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
+        "-DREPO=${LLAMA_CONNECT_REPO}"
+        "-DVERSION=${LLAMA_CONNECT_VERSION}"
+        "-DPLATFORM=${LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM}"
+        "-DOUT_DIR=${LLAMA_CONNECT_OUT_DIR}"
+        "-DWORK_DIR=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}"
+        -P "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/scripts/connect-download.cmake"
+    COMMENT "Downloading llama-connect (${LLAMA_CONNECT_PLATFORM}, ${LLAMA_CONNECT_VERSION})"
+    VERBATIM
+)
+
+if (LLAMA_TOOLS_INSTALL)
+    install(PROGRAMS "${LLAMA_CONNECT_OUT_DIR}/${LLAMA_CONNECT_BINARY}" TYPE BIN)
+endif()