diff --git a/common/common.cpp b/common/common.cpp
index f3cc55247e..0b9a3c6533 100644
--- a/common/common.cpp
+++ b/common/common.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@
 #include "log.h"
 #include "llama.h"
 
+#ifdef GGML_USE_VULKAN
+#include "ggml-vulkan.h"
+#endif
+
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <cinttypes>
 #include <climits>
@@ -1161,6 +1165,89 @@ struct llama_model_params common_model_params_to_llama(common_params & params) {
     if (params.n_gpu_layers != -1) {
         mparams.n_gpu_layers = params.n_gpu_layers;
     }
+#ifdef GGML_USE_VULKAN
+    else {
+        // Dynamic VRAM heuristic
+        int n_gpu_layers = 0;
+
+        // Ensure Vulkan is initialized
+        ggml_backend_vk_get_device_count();
+
+        // Get available VRAM
+        size_t free, total;
+        ggml_backend_vk_get_device_memory(params.main_gpu, &free, &total);
+
+        // Parse GGUF to get model info
+        struct gguf_init_params gguf_params = {
+            /*.no_alloc = */ true,
+            /*.ctx      = */ NULL,
+        };
+        struct gguf_context * ctx = gguf_init_from_file(params.model.path.c_str(), gguf_params);
+
+        if (ctx) {
+            int n_layers = -1;
+
+            // Find block count from GGUF metadata
+            int n_kv = gguf_get_n_kv(ctx);
+            for (int i = 0; i < n_kv; i++) {
+                const char * key = gguf_get_key(ctx, i);
+
+                // Find block_count (e.g. llama.block_count, gemma2.block_count)
+                const char * suffix     = ".block_count";
+                size_t       key_len    = strlen(key);
+                size_t       suffix_len = strlen(suffix);
+                if (key_len >= suffix_len && strcmp(key + key_len - suffix_len, suffix) == 0) {
+                    n_layers = gguf_get_val_u32(ctx, i);
+                }
+            }
+
+            if (n_layers > 0) {
+                size_t file_size = std::filesystem::file_size(params.model.path);
+
+                // Reserve overhead for KV cache, compute buffers, and system
+                // KV cache is allocated dynamically by llama.cpp based on offloaded layers
+                // Conservative overhead: 800MB covers KV cache + compute for most scenarios
+                const size_t overhead = 800 * 1024 * 1024;
+
+                if (free > overhead) {
+                    size_t available_for_model = free - overhead;
+                    size_t bytes_per_layer     = file_size / n_layers;
+
+                    if (bytes_per_layer > 0) {
+                        n_gpu_layers = (int) (available_for_model / bytes_per_layer);
+                    }
+
+                    // Clamp to total layers
+                    if (n_gpu_layers > n_layers) {
+                        n_gpu_layers = n_layers;
+                    }
+                    if (n_gpu_layers < 0) {
+                        n_gpu_layers = 0;
+                    }
+
+                    LOG_INF(
+                        "%s: Vulkan dynamic heuristic: available_vram=%zu MB, model_size=%zu MB, n_layers=%d, "
+                        "overhead=%zu MB, calculated_layers=%d\n",
+                        __func__, free / 1024 / 1024, file_size / 1024 / 1024, n_layers, overhead / 1024 / 1024,
+                        n_gpu_layers);
+                } else {
+                    LOG_WRN(
+                        "%s: Vulkan dynamic heuristic: Insufficient VRAM (%zu MB free, %zu MB overhead needed), "
+                        "disabling GPU offload\n",
+                        __func__, free / 1024 / 1024, overhead / 1024 / 1024);
+                    n_gpu_layers = 0;
+                }
+            }
+            gguf_free(ctx);
+        } else {
+            LOG_WRN("%s: Failed to open GGUF file for heuristic, disabling GPU offload\n", __func__);
+            // Fallback to CPU-only if GGUF fails
+            n_gpu_layers = 0;
+        }
+
+        mparams.n_gpu_layers = n_gpu_layers;
+    }
+#endif
 
     mparams.main_gpu        = params.main_gpu;
     mparams.split_mode      = params.split_mode;
diff --git a/ggml/include/ggml-vulkan.h b/ggml/include/ggml-vulkan.h
index 22c4ad928b..2ca1074dbb 100644
--- a/ggml/include/ggml-vulkan.h
+++ b/ggml/include/ggml-vulkan.h
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 #pragma once
 
-#include "ggml-backend.h"
 #include "ggml.h"
+#include "ggml-backend.h"
 
-#ifdef __cplusplus
+#ifdef  __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
-#define GGML_VK_NAME        "Vulkan"
+#define GGML_VK_NAME "Vulkan"
 #define GGML_VK_MAX_DEVICES 16
 
 // backend API
@@ -38,6 +38,6 @@ typedef struct {
 GGML_BACKEND_API ggml_vk_device_info ggml_backend_vk_get_device_info(int device);
 GGML_BACKEND_API int                 ggml_backend_vk_get_default_gpu_layers(int device, int default_layers);
 
-#ifdef __cplusplus
+#ifdef  __cplusplus
 }
 #endif