diff --git a/src/openbench/engine/whisperkitpro_engine.py b/src/openbench/engine/whisperkitpro_engine.py
index 0103320..fd17e00 100644
--- a/src/openbench/engine/whisperkitpro_engine.py
+++ b/src/openbench/engine/whisperkitpro_engine.py
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@
 
 logger = get_logger(__name__)
 
+
+def _config_str_provided(value: str | None) -> bool:
+    return value is not None and value.strip() != ""
+
+
 COMPUTE_UNITS_MAPPER = {
     ct.ComputeUnit.CPU_ONLY: "cpuOnly",
     ct.ComputeUnit.CPU_AND_NE: "cpuAndNeuralEngine",
@@ -26,9 +31,10 @@
 class WhisperKitProConfig(BaseModel):
     """Configuration for transcription operations.
 
-    Supports two modes:
-    1. Legacy: model_version, model_prefix, model_repo_name
-    2. New: repo_id, model_variant (downloads models locally)
+    Supports three modes:
+    1. Local: model_dir only (existing directory on disk; no Hugging Face download)
+    2. Hugging Face: repo_id + model_variant (downloads unless model_dir already exists)
+    3. Legacy: model_version, model_prefix, model_repo_name
     """
 
     # Legacy fields
@@ -56,7 +62,10 @@ class WhisperKitProConfig(BaseModel):
     )
     model_dir: str | None = Field(
         None,
-        description="Local path to model directory, if this is provided it will ignore the repo_id and model_variant and use the provided path directly",
+        description=(
+            "Local directory passed as --model-path. If set, must exist; repo_id/model_variant are not used for "
+            "download (no Hugging Face fetch when only model_dir is configured)."
+        ),
     )
     word_timestamps: bool = Field(
         True,
@@ -128,7 +137,7 @@ def generate_cli_args(self, model_path: Path | None = None) -> list[str]:
         # Use either --model-path (new) or legacy model args
         if self.use_model_path:
             if model_path is None:
-                raise ValueError("model_path required when using repo_id/model_variant")
+                raise ValueError("model_path required when using --model-path mode")
             args = [
                 "--model-path",
                 str(model_path),
@@ -185,26 +194,34 @@ def generate_cli_args(self, model_path: Path | None = None) -> list[str]:
 
     @property
     def use_model_path(self) -> bool:
-        """Check if we should use --model-path vs legacy args."""
-        return self.repo_id is not None and self.model_variant is not None
+        """Use --model-path when model_dir is set, or when HF repo_id + model_variant are set."""
+        if _config_str_provided(self.model_dir):
+            return True
+        return _config_str_provided(self.repo_id) and _config_str_provided(self.model_variant)
 
     def download_and_prepare_model(self) -> Path:
-        """Download model from HuggingFace and prepare folder.
+        """Resolve local model directory or download from Hugging Face.
 
         Returns:
             Path to model directory for --model-path
         """
         if not self.use_model_path:
-            raise ValueError("download_and_prepare_model requires repo_id and model_variant")
+            raise ValueError("download_and_prepare_model requires model_dir or repo_id/model_variant")
+
+        if _config_str_provided(self.model_dir):
+            p = Path(self.model_dir).expanduser().resolve()
+            if not p.is_dir():
+                raise FileNotFoundError(
+                    f"model_dir must be an existing directory (no Hugging Face download when model_dir is set): {self.model_dir}"
+                )
+            logger.info(f"Using local model at: {p}")
+            return p
 
-        # Check if model already exists
-        if self.model_dir is not None and os.path.exists(self.model_dir):
-            logger.info(f"Model already exists at: {self.model_dir}")
-            return Path(self.model_dir)
+        if not (_config_str_provided(self.repo_id) and _config_str_provided(self.model_variant)):
+            raise ValueError("repo_id and model_variant are required when model_dir is not set")
 
         logger.info(f"Downloading model from {self.repo_id}, variant: {self.model_variant}")
 
-        # Download specific model variant folder from HuggingFace
         try:
             downloaded_path = snapshot_download(repo_id=self.repo_id, allow_patterns=f"{self.model_variant}/*")
             return Path(f"{downloaded_path}/{self.model_variant}")
@@ -252,10 +269,20 @@ def __init__(
         # Download and prepare model if using new model management
         self.model_path = None
         if self.transcription_config.use_model_path:
-            logger.debug("Using model path management with repo_id/model_variant")
+            logger.debug("Using --model-path (local model_dir and/or Hugging Face ids)")
             self.model_path = self.transcription_config.download_and_prepare_model()
         else:
             logger.debug("Using legacy model management")
+            if not (
+                _config_str_provided(self.transcription_config.model_version)
+                and _config_str_provided(self.transcription_config.model_prefix)
+                and _config_str_provided(self.transcription_config.model_repo_name)
+            ):
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "WhisperKitPro requires one of: model_dir (existing directory), "
+                    "(repo_id and model_variant for Hugging Face), or "
+                    "(model_version, model_prefix, model_repo_name) for legacy CLI args."
+                )
 
         # Generate CLI args (with model_path if available)
         self.transcription_args = self.transcription_config.generate_cli_args(model_path=self.model_path)
diff --git a/src/openbench/pipeline/pipeline_aliases.py b/src/openbench/pipeline/pipeline_aliases.py
index 97287b0..b96ba80 100644
--- a/src/openbench/pipeline/pipeline_aliases.py
+++ b/src/openbench/pipeline/pipeline_aliases.py
@@ -487,6 +487,20 @@ def register_pipeline_aliases() -> None:
         description="WhisperKitPro transcription pipeline using the parakeet-v3 version of the model compressed to 494MB. Requires `WHISPERKITPRO_CLI_PATH` env var and depending on your permissions also `WHISPERKITPRO_API_KEY` env var.",
     )
 
+    PipelineRegistry.register_alias(
+        "whisperkitpro-local-model",
+        WhisperKitProTranscriptionPipeline,
+        default_config={
+            "model_dir": os.getenv("WHISPERKITPRO_LOCAL_MODEL_PATH"),
+            "cli_path": os.getenv("WHISPERKITPRO_CLI_PATH"),
+        },
+        description=(
+            "WhisperKitPro transcription using only a local model directory (no default Hugging Face repo). "
+            "Set `WHISPERKITPRO_LOCAL_MODEL_PATH` to the folder passed as `--model-path` on the CLI; it must exist. "
+            "Requires `WHISPERKITPRO_CLI_PATH` and may require `WHISPERKITPRO_API_KEY`."
+        ),
+    )
+
     PipelineRegistry.register_alias(
         "groq-whisper-large-v3-turbo",
         GroqTranscriptionPipeline,
diff --git a/src/openbench/pipeline/transcription/transcription_whisperkitpro.py b/src/openbench/pipeline/transcription/transcription_whisperkitpro.py
index a88a517..bcb60fa 100644
--- a/src/openbench/pipeline/transcription/transcription_whisperkitpro.py
+++ b/src/openbench/pipeline/transcription/transcription_whisperkitpro.py
@@ -24,9 +24,7 @@
 class WhisperKitProTranscriptionConfig(TranscriptionConfig):
     """Configuration for WhisperKitPro transcription pipeline.
 
-    Supports two modes:
-    1. Legacy: model_version, model_prefix, model_repo_name
-    2. New: repo_id, model_variant (downloads and manages models)
+    Supports local model_dir only, Hugging Face repo_id + model_variant, or legacy model fields.
     """
 
     cli_path: str = Field(
@@ -59,7 +57,7 @@ class WhisperKitProTranscriptionConfig(TranscriptionConfig):
     )
     model_dir: str | None = Field(
         None,
-        description="Directory to cache downloaded models",
+        description="Existing local model directory for --model-path (no Hugging Face download when this is the only model source).",
     )
 
     audio_encoder_compute_units: ComputeUnit = Field(