diff --git a/Containerfile b/Containerfile
index 607600e..cc932d7 100644
--- a/Containerfile
+++ b/Containerfile
@@ -41,13 +41,15 @@ ENV PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8
 ENV UV_COMPILE_BYTECODE=1 UV_LINK_MODE=copy
 ENV UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=/opt/app-root
 
+ENV DOCLING_SERVE_ARTIFACTS_PATH=/opt/app-root/src/.cache/docling/models
+
 COPY --chown=1001:0 pyproject.toml uv.lock README.md ./
 
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/opt/app-root/src/.cache/uv,uid=1001 \
     uv sync --frozen --no-install-project --no-dev --all-extras ${UV_SYNC_EXTRA_ARGS}   # --no-extra ${NO_EXTRA}
 
 RUN echo "Downloading models..." && \
-    docling-tools models download ${MODELS_LIST} && \
+    docling-tools models download -o "${DOCLING_SERVE_ARTIFACTS_PATH}" ${MODELS_LIST} && \
     chown -R 1001:0 /opt/app-root/src/.cache && \
     chmod -R g=u /opt/app-root/src/.cache
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 68a24ae..25ce90a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -381,6 +381,9 @@ $ docling-serve dev --help
 │ --proxy-headers    --no-proxy-headers             Enable/Disable X-Forwarded-Proto, X-Forwarded-For,       │
 │                                                   X-Forwarded-Port to populate remote address info.        │
 │                                                   [default: proxy-headers]                                 │
+│ --artifacts-path                          PATH     If set to a valid directory, the model weights will be  │
+│                                                    loaded from this path.                                  │
+│                                                    [default: None]                                         │
 │ --enable-ui        --no-enable-ui                 Enable the development UI. [default: enable-ui]          │
 │ --help                                            Show this message and exit.                              │
 ╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
@@ -398,11 +401,11 @@ The environment variables controlling the `uvicorn` execution can be specified w
 The environment variables controlling specifics of the Docling Serve app can be specified with the
 `DOCLING_SERVE_` prefix:
 
+- `DOCLING_SERVE_ARTIFACTS_PATH`: if set Docling will use only the local weights of models, for example `/opt/app-root/src/.cache/docling/models`.
 - `DOCLING_SERVE_ENABLE_UI`: If `True`, The Gradio UI will be available at `/ui`.
 
 Others:
 
-- `DOCLING_ARTIFACTS_PATH`: if set Docling will use only the local weights of models, for example `/opt/app-root/.cache/docling/cache`.
 - `TESSDATA_PREFIX`: Tesseract data location, example `/usr/share/tesseract/tessdata/`.
 
 ## Get help and support
diff --git a/docling_serve/__main__.py b/docling_serve/__main__.py
index ade540f..2fd5094 100644
--- a/docling_serve/__main__.py
+++ b/docling_serve/__main__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ import logging
 import platform
 import sys
 import warnings
-from typing import Annotated, Any, Union
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Annotated, Any, Optional, Union
 
 import typer
 import uvicorn
@@ -161,6 +162,15 @@ def dev(
         ),
     ] = uvicorn_settings.proxy_headers,
     # docling options
+    artifacts_path: Annotated[
+        Optional[Path],
+        typer.Option(
+            help=(
+                "If set to a valid directory, "
+                "the model weights will be loaded from this path."
+            )
+        ),
+    ] = docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path,
     enable_ui: Annotated[bool, typer.Option(help="Enable the development UI.")] = True,
 ) -> Any:
     """
@@ -179,6 +189,7 @@ def dev(
     uvicorn_settings.root_path = root_path
     uvicorn_settings.proxy_headers = proxy_headers
 
+    docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path = artifacts_path
     docling_serve_settings.enable_ui = enable_ui
 
     _run(
@@ -243,6 +254,15 @@ def run(
         ),
     ] = uvicorn_settings.proxy_headers,
     # docling options
+    artifacts_path: Annotated[
+        Optional[Path],
+        typer.Option(
+            help=(
+                "If set to a valid directory, "
+                "the model weights will be loaded from this path."
+            )
+        ),
+    ] = docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path,
     enable_ui: Annotated[
         bool, typer.Option(help="Enable the development UI.")
     ] = docling_serve_settings.enable_ui,
@@ -264,6 +284,7 @@ def run(
     uvicorn_settings.root_path = root_path
     uvicorn_settings.proxy_headers = proxy_headers
 
+    docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path = artifacts_path
     docling_serve_settings.enable_ui = enable_ui
 
     _run(
diff --git a/docling_serve/docling_conversion.py b/docling_serve/docling_conversion.py
index 1b117eb..2db46c0 100644
--- a/docling_serve/docling_conversion.py
+++ b/docling_serve/docling_conversion.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ from fastapi import HTTPException
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
 
 from docling_serve.helper_functions import _to_list_of_strings
+from docling_serve.settings import docling_serve_settings
 
 _log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -276,6 +277,11 @@ def _serialize_pdf_format_option(pdf_format_option: PdfFormatOption) -> str:
     if pdf_format_option.pipeline_options:
         data["pipeline_options"] = pdf_format_option.pipeline_options.model_dump()
 
+        # Replace `artifacts_path` with a string representation
+        data["pipeline_options"]["artifacts_path"] = repr(
+            data["pipeline_options"]["artifacts_path"]
+        )
+
     # Replace `pipeline_cls` with a string representation
     data["pipeline_cls"] = repr(data["pipeline_cls"])
 
@@ -293,7 +299,7 @@ def _serialize_pdf_format_option(pdf_format_option: PdfFormatOption) -> str:
 
 
 # Computes the PDF pipeline options and returns the PdfFormatOption and its hash
-def get_pdf_pipeline_opts(
+def get_pdf_pipeline_opts(  # noqa: C901
     request: ConvertDocumentsOptions,
 ) -> Tuple[PdfFormatOption, str]:
 
@@ -364,6 +370,31 @@ def get_pdf_pipeline_opts(
     else:
         raise RuntimeError(f"Unexpected PDF backend type {request.pdf_backend}")
 
+    if docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path is not None:
+        if str(docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path.absolute()) == "":
+            _log.info(
+                "artifacts_path is an empty path, model weights will be dowloaded "
+                "at runtime."
+            )
+            pipeline_options.artifacts_path = None
+        elif docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path.is_dir():
+            _log.info(
+                "artifacts_path is set to a valid directory. "
+                "No model weights will be downloaded at runtime."
+            )
+            pipeline_options.artifacts_path = docling_serve_settings.artifacts_path
+        else:
+            _log.warning(
+                "artifacts_path is set to an invalid directory. "
+                "The system will download the model weights at runtime."
+            )
+            pipeline_options.artifacts_path = None
+    else:
+        _log.info(
+            "artifacts_path is unset. "
+            "The system will download the model weights at runtime."
+        )
+
     pdf_format_option = PdfFormatOption(
         pipeline_options=pipeline_options,
         backend=backend,
diff --git a/docling_serve/settings.py b/docling_serve/settings.py
index a6f645b..0e52bc6 100644
--- a/docling_serve/settings.py
+++ b/docling_serve/settings.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-from typing import Union
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Optional, Union
 
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
 
@@ -18,10 +19,14 @@ class UvicornSettings(BaseSettings):
 
 class DoclingServeSettings(BaseSettings):
     model_config = SettingsConfigDict(
-        env_prefix="DOCLING_SERVE_", env_file=".env", extra="allow"
+        env_prefix="DOCLING_SERVE_",
+        env_file=".env",
+        env_parse_none_str="",
+        extra="allow",
     )
 
     enable_ui: bool = False
+    artifacts_path: Optional[Path] = None
 
 
 uvicorn_settings = UvicornSettings()