diff --git a/common/common.cpp b/common/common.cpp
index f241371f..153927bf 100644
--- a/common/common.cpp
+++ b/common/common.cpp
@@ -4072,6 +4072,14 @@ struct llama_init_result llama_init_from_gpt_params(gpt_params & params) {
         return iparams;
     }
 
+    // a predictor-only MTP GGUF has no main blocks, so it cannot be the target model
+    if (llama_model_mtp_package(model) == LLAMA_MTP_PACKAGE_COMPANION) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "%s: error: '%s' is an MTP companion, pass it with -md instead\n",
+                __func__, params.model.c_str());
+        llama_free_model(model);
+        return iparams;
+    }
+
     auto cparams = common_context_params_to_llama(params);
 
     llama_context * lctx = llama_init_from_model(model, cparams);
diff --git a/common/speculative.cpp b/common/speculative.cpp
index c81a70e8..bf777391 100644
--- a/common/speculative.cpp
+++ b/common/speculative.cpp
@@ -145,7 +145,8 @@ static bool common_speculative_are_compatible(
 }
 
 static bool common_speculative_target_has_appended_mtp_contract(const llama_model * model) {
-    return llama_model_is_step35(model) || llama_model_is_deepseek4(model);
+    return llama_model_is_step35(model) || llama_model_is_deepseek4(model) ||
+           llama_model_is_qwen35_family(model);
 }
 
 static bool common_speculative_has_recognized_mtp_companion(
@@ -2178,6 +2179,20 @@ bool common_speculative_finalize_startup(
                             __func__, n_heads);
                     return false;
                 }
+            } else if (llama_model_is_qwen35_family(model)) {
+                // dense and MoE are separate architectures, so compare the arch itself
+                if (std::strcmp(llama_model_arch_string(model), llama_model_arch_string(companion)) != 0) {
+                    LOG_ERR("%s: Qwen3.5 MTP requires a companion of the same architecture, target is %s and companion is %s\n",
+                            __func__, llama_model_arch_string(model), llama_model_arch_string(companion));
+                    return false;
+                }
+
+                const int32_t n_heads = llama_model_n_nextn_layer(companion);
+                if (n_heads != 1) {
+                    LOG_ERR("%s: Qwen3.5 MTP companion requires exactly one predictor layer, got %d\n",
+                            __func__, n_heads);
+                    return false;
+                }
             }
 
             if (common_speculative_has_recognized_mtp_companion(model, companion)) {
diff --git a/include/llama.h b/include/llama.h
index 177f1a71..6ccb146a 100644
--- a/include/llama.h
+++ b/include/llama.h
@@ -713,6 +713,8 @@ extern "C" {
 
     LLAMA_API bool llama_model_is_step35(const struct llama_model * model);
 
+    LLAMA_API bool llama_model_is_qwen35_family(const struct llama_model * model);
+
     LLAMA_API bool llama_is_gemma4_mtp_file(const char * path);
 
     LLAMA_API bool llama_model_is_split_mode_graph(const struct llama_model * model);
diff --git a/src/llama-load-tensors.cpp b/src/llama-load-tensors.cpp
index 47300df0..c1e2f3b3 100644
--- a/src/llama-load-tensors.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-load-tensors.cpp
@@ -1704,6 +1704,12 @@ bool create_tensors_helper::create_qwen35moe_tensors(const LLM_TN & tn) {
     const int64_t value_dim  = head_v_dim * n_v_heads;
     const int64_t conv_dim   = key_dim * 2 + value_dim;
 
+    // A predictor-only MTP GGUF reports the full block count but only ships the NextN block, skip the rest
+    const bool mtp_only = hparams.nextn_predict_layers > 0 &&
+                          ml.get_tensor_meta(tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_NORM, "weight", 0).c_str()) == nullptr;
+    const int trunk_flags = mtp_only
+        ? llama_model_loader::TENSOR_SKIP | llama_model_loader::TENSOR_NOT_REQUIRED : 0;
+
     for (int i = 0; i < n_layer; ++i) {
         const bool is_mtp_layer = hparams.nextn_predict_layers > 0 &&
                                   static_cast<uint32_t>(i) >= n_layer - hparams.nextn_predict_layers;
@@ -1712,7 +1718,7 @@ bool create_tensors_helper::create_qwen35moe_tensors(const LLM_TN & tn) {
 
         auto & layer = model.layers[i];
 
-        int flags = 0;
+        int flags = is_mtp_layer ? 0 : trunk_flags;
         if (!model.mtp && is_mtp_layer) {
             flags |= llama_model_loader::TENSOR_SKIP;
         }
@@ -1813,6 +1819,12 @@ bool create_tensors_helper::create_qwen35_tensors(const LLM_TN & tn) {
     const int64_t value_dim  = head_v_dim * n_v_heads;
     const int64_t conv_dim   = key_dim * 2 + value_dim;
 
+    // A predictor-only MTP GGUF reports the full block count but only ships the NextN block, skip the rest
+    const bool mtp_only = hparams.nextn_predict_layers > 0 &&
+                          ml.get_tensor_meta(tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_NORM, "weight", 0).c_str()) == nullptr;
+    const int trunk_flags = mtp_only
+        ? llama_model_loader::TENSOR_SKIP | llama_model_loader::TENSOR_NOT_REQUIRED : 0;
+
     for (int i = 0; i < n_layer; ++i) {
         auto & layer = model.layers[i];
 
@@ -1821,7 +1833,7 @@ bool create_tensors_helper::create_qwen35_tensors(const LLM_TN & tn) {
 
         ggml_context * ctx_split = ctx_for_layer_split(i);
 
-        int flags = 0;
+        int flags = is_mtp_layer ? 0 : trunk_flags;
         // Skip loading MTP layers if the feature is disabled
         if (!model.mtp) {
             if (is_mtp_layer) {
@@ -1829,6 +1841,8 @@ bool create_tensors_helper::create_qwen35_tensors(const LLM_TN & tn) {
             }
         }
         const int mtp_opt = is_mtp_layer ? llama_model_loader::TENSOR_NOT_REQUIRED : 0;
+        // q_proj may be shared with the last main block, which a predictor-only GGUF does not have
+        const int mtp_opt_q = mtp_only ? 0 : mtp_opt;
 
         layer.attn_norm      = create_tensor(ctx_split, tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_NORM,      "weight", i), { n_embd }, flags);
         layer.attn_post_norm = create_tensor(ctx_split, tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_POST_NORM, "weight", i), { n_embd }, flags);
@@ -1836,7 +1850,7 @@ bool create_tensors_helper::create_qwen35_tensors(const LLM_TN & tn) {
 
         if (!hparams.is_recurrent(i)) {
             // Attention layers (MTP layer is always standard attention)
-            layer.wq = create_tensor(ctx_split, tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_Q,   "weight", i), { n_embd, n_embd_head_k * n_head * 2 }, flags | mtp_opt);
+            layer.wq = create_tensor(ctx_split, tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_Q,   "weight", i), { n_embd, n_embd_head_k * n_head * 2 }, flags | mtp_opt_q);
             layer.wk = create_tensor(ctx_split, tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_K,   "weight", i), { n_embd, n_embd_k_gqa }, flags);
             layer.wv = create_tensor(ctx_split, tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_V,   "weight", i), { n_embd, n_embd_v_gqa }, flags);
             layer.wo = create_tensor(ctx_split, tn(LLM_TENSOR_ATTN_OUT, "weight", i), { n_embd_head_k * n_head, n_embd }, flags);
@@ -5395,6 +5409,10 @@ bool create_tensors_helper::create_tensors() {
             for ([[maybe_unused]] auto mem : mem_used) LLAMA_LOG_DEBUG(" %g", mem/1024./1024.);
             LLAMA_LOG_DEBUG("\n");
             auto & layer = model.layers[il];
+            // a predictor-only MTP GGUF has no tensors at all in its main blocks
+            if (!layer.attn_norm && !layer.wq && !layer.wqkv && !layer.ssm_in && !layer.wo) {
+                continue;
+            }
             auto ctx_split = ctx_for_layer_split(il);
             if (layer.attn_norm) {
                 prepare_split_tensors(-1, ctx_split, layer.attn_norm, layer.split_attn_norm, mirror, mem_used);
diff --git a/src/llama-model.cpp b/src/llama-model.cpp
index 119f0ca3..378f026b 100644
--- a/src/llama-model.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-model.cpp
@@ -2319,6 +2319,10 @@ bool llama_model_is_step35(const llama_model * model) {
     return model && model->arch == LLM_ARCH_STEP35;
 }
 
+bool llama_model_is_qwen35_family(const llama_model * model) {
+    return model && (model->arch == LLM_ARCH_QWEN35 || model->arch == LLM_ARCH_QWEN35MOE);
+}
+
 enum llama_mtp_package llama_model_mtp_package(const llama_model * model) {
     if (!model) {
         return LLAMA_MTP_PACKAGE_INVALID;
@@ -2331,13 +2335,15 @@ enum llama_mtp_package llama_model_mtp_package(const llama_model * model) {
     const size_t n_nextn = model->hparams.nextn_predict_layers;
     const bool has_common_package_contract =
         llama_model_is_step35(model) || llama_model_is_deepseek4(model) ||
+        llama_model_is_qwen35_family(model) ||
         llama_model_is_gemma4_mtp_assistant(model);
     if (!has_common_package_contract) {
         return n_nextn > 0 ? LLAMA_MTP_PACKAGE_EMBEDDED : LLAMA_MTP_PACKAGE_NONE;
     }
 
     if (n_nextn == 0) {
-        if (llama_model_is_step35(model) || llama_model_is_deepseek4(model)) {
+        if (llama_model_is_step35(model) || llama_model_is_deepseek4(model) ||
+            llama_model_is_qwen35_family(model)) {
             for (const auto & layer : model->layers) {
                 if (layer.attn_norm != nullptr) {
                     return LLAMA_MTP_PACKAGE_TARGET_ONLY;
@@ -2353,7 +2359,10 @@ enum llama_mtp_package llama_model_mtp_package(const llama_model * model) {
     }
 
     const size_t first = n_layers - n_nextn;
-    const bool has_tail = model->layers[first].nextn.eh_proj != nullptr;
+    // A Qwen3.5 NextN block loads eh_proj, attn_q and the MLP as optional, so none of them
+    // marks a predictor tail on its own; enorm is required and is present in all of them.
+    const bool has_tail = model->layers[first].nextn.eh_proj != nullptr ||
+        (llama_model_is_qwen35_family(model) && model->layers[first].nextn.enorm != nullptr);
 
     bool has_trunk = false;
     for (size_t il = 0; il < first; ++il) {