diff --git a/common/arg.h b/common/arg.h
index 421bc295f..203d1b4e1 100644
--- a/common/arg.h
+++ b/common/arg.h
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ struct common_params_context {
 
 // parse input arguments from CLI
 // if one argument has invalid value, it will automatically display usage of the specific argument (and not the full usage message)
+// TODO: this function can load ggml backend (by calling llama_support_rpc)
+//       this is a side-effect that should be avoided
 bool common_params_parse(int argc, char ** argv, common_params & params, llama_example ex, void(*print_usage)(int, char **) = nullptr);
 
 // load all backends and print the list of available (non-CPU) devices to stdout
diff --git a/common/hf-cache.cpp b/common/hf-cache.cpp
index 50d6dd610..4f8a1bb3d 100644
--- a/common/hf-cache.cpp
+++ b/common/hf-cache.cpp
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ namespace hf_cache {
 
 namespace fs = std::filesystem;
 
-static fs::path get_cache_directory() {
-    static const fs::path cache = []() {
+std::string get_cache_path() {
+    static const std::string cache = []() {
         struct {
             const char * var;
             fs::path path;
@@ -46,14 +46,14 @@ static fs::path get_cache_directory() {
         for (const auto & entry : entries) {
             if (auto * p = std::getenv(entry.var); p && *p) {
                 fs::path base(p);
-                return entry.path.empty() ? base : base / entry.path;
+                return (entry.path.empty() ? base : base / entry.path).string();
             }
         }
 #ifndef _WIN32
         const struct passwd * pw = getpwuid(getuid());
 
         if (pw && pw->pw_dir && *pw->pw_dir) {
-            return fs::path(pw->pw_dir) / ".cache" / "huggingface" / "hub";
+            return (fs::path(pw->pw_dir) / ".cache" / "huggingface" / "hub").string();
         }
 #endif
         throw std::runtime_error("Failed to determine HF cache directory");
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ static std::string repo_to_folder_name(const std::string & repo_id) {
 }
 
 static fs::path get_repo_path(const std::string & repo_id) {
-    return get_cache_directory() / repo_to_folder_name(repo_id);
+    return fs::path(get_cache_path()) / repo_to_folder_name(repo_id);
 }
 
 static bool is_hex_char(const char c) {
@@ -393,8 +393,8 @@ static std::string get_cached_ref(const fs::path & repo_path) {
 }
 
 hf_files get_cached_files(const std::string & repo_id) {
-    fs::path cache_dir = get_cache_directory();
-    if (!fs::exists(cache_dir)) {
+    const fs::path cache_path = get_cache_path();
+    if (!fs::exists(cache_path)) {
         return {};
     }
 
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ hf_files get_cached_files(const std::string & repo_id) {
 
     hf_files files;
 
-    for (const auto & repo : fs::directory_iterator(cache_dir)) {
+    for (const auto & repo : fs::directory_iterator(cache_path)) {
         if (!repo.is_directory()) {
             continue;
         }
diff --git a/common/hf-cache.h b/common/hf-cache.h
index 42c9c6ce3..41842db78 100644
--- a/common/hf-cache.h
+++ b/common/hf-cache.h
@@ -32,4 +32,7 @@ std::string finalize_file(const hf_file & file);
 // Remove the entire cached directory for a repo, returns true if removed
 bool remove_cached_repo(const std::string & repo_id);
 
+// Returns the HuggingFace hub cache path
+std::string get_cache_path();
+
 } // namespace hf_cache
diff --git a/tools/server/server-models.cpp b/tools/server/server-models.cpp
index 3d134acf3..b10d9bd8a 100644
--- a/tools/server/server-models.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server-models.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include "build-info.h"
 #include "preset.h"
 #include "download.h"
+#include "hf-cache.h"
 #include "http.h"
 #include "subproc.h"
 
@@ -677,19 +678,19 @@ void server_models::load_models() {
     // Phase 1: load presets from all sources - pure I/O, no lock needed
     // 1. cached models
     common_presets cached_models = ctx_preset.load_from_cache();
-    SRV_INF("Loaded %zu cached model presets\n", cached_models.size());
+    SRV_TRC("Loaded %zu cached model presets from %s\n", cached_models.size(), hf_cache::get_cache_path().c_str());
     // 2. local models from --models-dir
     common_presets local_models;
     if (!base_params.models_dir.empty()) {
         local_models = ctx_preset.load_from_models_dir(base_params.models_dir);
-        SRV_INF("Loaded %zu local model presets from %s\n", local_models.size(), base_params.models_dir.c_str());
+        SRV_TRC("Loaded %zu local model presets from %s\n", local_models.size(), base_params.models_dir.c_str());
     }
     // 3. custom-path models from presets
     common_preset global = {};
     common_presets custom_presets = {};
     if (!base_params.models_preset.empty()) {
         custom_presets = ctx_preset.load_from_ini(base_params.models_preset, global);
-        SRV_INF("Loaded %zu custom model presets from %s\n", custom_presets.size(), base_params.models_preset.c_str());
+        SRV_TRC("Loaded %zu custom model presets from %s\n", custom_presets.size(), base_params.models_preset.c_str());
     }
 
     // cascade, apply global preset first
@@ -762,8 +763,6 @@ void server_models::load_models() {
     }
 
     // Helpers that read `mapping` - must be called while holding the lock.
-    std::unordered_set<std::string> custom_names;
-    for (const auto & [name, preset] : custom_presets) custom_names.insert(name);
     auto join_set = [](const std::set<std::string> & s) {
         std::string result;
         for (const auto & v : s) {
@@ -773,13 +772,19 @@ void server_models::load_models() {
         return result;
     };
     auto log_available_models = [&]() {
-        SRV_INF("Available models (%zu) (*: custom preset)\n", mapping.size());
-        for (const auto & [name, inst] : mapping) {
-            bool has_custom = custom_names.find(name) != custom_names.end();
-            std::string info;
-            if (!inst.meta.aliases.empty()) info += " (aliases: " + join_set(inst.meta.aliases) + ")";
-            if (!inst.meta.tags.empty())    info += " [tags: "    + join_set(inst.meta.tags)    + "]";
-            SRV_INF("  %c %s%s\n", has_custom ? '*' : ' ', name.c_str(), info.c_str());
+        SRV_INF("Available models (%zu):\n", mapping.size());
+        if (mapping.empty()) {
+            SRV_INF("%s", "  no models found on the system (visit https://llama.app/models for suggestions)\n");
+        } else {
+            for (const auto & [name, inst] : mapping) {
+                const std::string source = server_model_source_to_string(inst.meta.source);
+
+                std::string info;
+                if (!inst.meta.aliases.empty()) info += " (aliases: " + join_set(inst.meta.aliases) + ")";
+                if (!inst.meta.tags.empty())    info += " [tags: "    + join_set(inst.meta.tags)    + "]";
+
+                SRV_INF("  [%10s] %s%s\n", source.c_str(), name.c_str(), info.c_str());
+            }
         }
     };
     auto apply_stop_timeout = [&]() {
diff --git a/tools/server/server.cpp b/tools/server/server.cpp
index 22378b38c..1167c0aea 100644
--- a/tools/server/server.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server.cpp
@@ -102,6 +102,8 @@ int llama_server(int argc, char ** argv) {
     // touch it. lifecycle is symmetric, stop_gc() runs in clean_up() before backend free
     server_stream_session_manager_start();
 
+    SRV_INF("%s", "initializing ...\n");
+
     if (!common_params_parse(argc, argv, params, LLAMA_EXAMPLE_SERVER)) {
         return 1;
     }
@@ -320,11 +322,7 @@ int llama_server(common_params & params, int argc, char ** argv) {
     };
 
     if (params.cors_origins == "*" && params.api_keys.empty()) {
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "-----------------\n");
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "CORS is set to allow all origins ('*') and no API key is set\n");
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "this can be a security risk (cross-origin attacks)\n");
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "more info: https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/25655\n");
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "-----------------\n");
+        SRV_WRN("%s", "security: no API key is set and CORS allows all origins (see https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/25655)\n");
     }
 
     // CORS proxy (EXPERIMENTAL, only used by the Web UI for MCP)
@@ -372,14 +370,13 @@ int llama_server(common_params & params, int argc, char ** argv) {
         ctx_http.post("/tools",           ex_wrapper(res_403));
     }
 
-    if (warn_names.size() > 0) {
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "-----------------\n");
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "the following feature(s) are enabled:\n");
+    if (!warn_names.empty()) {
+        std::string features;
         for (const auto & name : warn_names) {
-            SRV_WRN("    %s\n", name.c_str());
+            if (!features.empty()) features += ", ";
+            features += name;
         }
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "do not expose the server to untrusted environments\n");
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "-----------------\n");
+        SRV_WRN("security: %s enabled - do not expose to untrusted environments\n", features.c_str());
     }
 
     //
@@ -517,8 +514,7 @@ int llama_server(common_params & params, int argc, char ** argv) {
     // TODO: remove this in the future
     // check the string to also handle the .sock case
     if (string_ends_with(ctx_http.listening_address, ":8080")) {
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "NOTICE: server default port will be changed to :9931 in a future release\n");
-        SRV_WRN("%s", "        ref: https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/26508\n");
+        SRV_WRN("%s", "notice: server default port will be changed to :9931 in a future release (ref: https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/26508)\n");
     }
 
     if (is_router_server) {