diff --git a/docling/datamodel/base_models.py b/docling/datamodel/base_models.py
index 5bd28ed65..db8802b55 100644
--- a/docling/datamodel/base_models.py
+++ b/docling/datamodel/base_models.py
@@ -147,6 +147,10 @@ class LayoutPrediction(BaseModel):
     clusters: List[Cluster] = []
 
 
+class DocTagsPrediction(BaseModel):
+    tag_string: str = ""
+
+
 class ContainerElement(
     BasePageElement
 ):  # Used for Form and Key-Value-Regions, only for typing.
@@ -190,6 +194,7 @@ class PagePredictions(BaseModel):
     tablestructure: Optional[TableStructurePrediction] = None
     figures_classification: Optional[FigureClassificationPrediction] = None
     equations_prediction: Optional[EquationPrediction] = None
+    doctags: Optional[DocTagsPrediction] = None
 
 
 PageElement = Union[TextElement, Table, FigureElement, ContainerElement]
diff --git a/docling/models/smol_docling_model.py b/docling/models/smol_docling_model.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..056f59e8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docling/models/smol_docling_model.py
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import copy
+import logging
+import random
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Iterable, List
+
+from docling_core.types.doc import CoordOrigin, DocItemLabel
+from docling_ibm_models.layoutmodel.layout_predictor import LayoutPredictor
+from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
+
+from docling.datamodel.base_models import (
+    BoundingBox,
+    Cell,
+    Cluster,
+    DocTagsPrediction,
+    LayoutPrediction,
+    Page,
+)
+from docling.datamodel.document import ConversionResult
+from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options import AcceleratorDevice, AcceleratorOptions
+from docling.datamodel.settings import settings
+from docling.models.base_model import BasePageModel
+from docling.utils.accelerator_utils import decide_device
+from docling.utils.layout_postprocessor import LayoutPostprocessor
+from docling.utils.profiling import TimeRecorder
+
+_log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class SmolDoclingModel(BasePageModel):
+
+    def __init__(self, artifacts_path: Path, accelerator_options: AcceleratorOptions):
+        device = decide_device(accelerator_options.device)
+
+        # self.your_vlm_predictor(..., device) = None # TODO
+
+    def __call__(
+        self, conv_res: ConversionResult, page_batch: Iterable[Page]
+    ) -> Iterable[Page]:
+
+        for page in page_batch:
+            assert page._backend is not None
+            if not page._backend.is_valid():
+                yield page
+            else:
+                with TimeRecorder(conv_res, "smolvlm"):
+                    assert page.size is not None
+
+                    hi_res_image = page.get_image(scale=2.0)  # 144dpi
+
+                    # Call your self.your_vlm_predictor with the page image as input (hi_res_image)
+                    # populate page_tags
+                    page_tags = ""
+
+                    page.predictions.doctags = DocTagsPrediction(tag_string=page_tags)
+
+                yield page
diff --git a/docling/pipeline/smol_docling_pipeline.py b/docling/pipeline/smol_docling_pipeline.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f4373beb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docling/pipeline/smol_docling_pipeline.py
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+import logging
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Optional
+
+from docling_core.types import DoclingDocument
+from docling_core.types.doc import DocItem, ImageRef, PictureItem, TableItem
+
+from docling.backend.abstract_backend import AbstractDocumentBackend
+from docling.backend.pdf_backend import PdfDocumentBackend
+from docling.datamodel.base_models import AssembledUnit, Page
+from docling.datamodel.document import ConversionResult
+from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options import (
+    EasyOcrOptions,
+    OcrMacOptions,
+    PdfPipelineOptions,
+    RapidOcrOptions,
+    TesseractCliOcrOptions,
+    TesseractOcrOptions,
+)
+from docling.models.base_ocr_model import BaseOcrModel
+from docling.models.ds_glm_model import GlmModel, GlmOptions
+from docling.models.easyocr_model import EasyOcrModel
+from docling.models.layout_model import LayoutModel
+from docling.models.ocr_mac_model import OcrMacModel
+from docling.models.page_assemble_model import PageAssembleModel, PageAssembleOptions
+from docling.models.page_preprocessing_model import (
+    PagePreprocessingModel,
+    PagePreprocessingOptions,
+)
+from docling.models.rapid_ocr_model import RapidOcrModel
+from docling.models.smol_docling_model import SmolDoclingModel
+from docling.models.table_structure_model import TableStructureModel
+from docling.models.tesseract_ocr_cli_model import TesseractOcrCliModel
+from docling.models.tesseract_ocr_model import TesseractOcrModel
+from docling.pipeline.base_pipeline import PaginatedPipeline
+from docling.utils.profiling import ProfilingScope, TimeRecorder
+
+_log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class SmolDoclingPipeline(PaginatedPipeline):
+    _smol_vlm_path = "model_artifacts/smol_vlm"  # TODO or whatever is needed.
+
+    def __init__(self, pipeline_options: PdfPipelineOptions):
+        super().__init__(pipeline_options)
+        self.pipeline_options: PdfPipelineOptions
+
+        if pipeline_options.artifacts_path is None:
+            self.artifacts_path = self.download_models_hf()
+        else:
+            self.artifacts_path = Path(pipeline_options.artifacts_path)
+
+        keep_images = (
+            self.pipeline_options.generate_page_images
+            or self.pipeline_options.generate_picture_images
+            or self.pipeline_options.generate_table_images
+        )
+
+        self.build_pipe = [
+            SmolDoclingModel(
+                artifacts_path=self.artifacts_path / SmolDoclingPipeline._smol_vlm_path,
+                accelerator_options=pipeline_options.accelerator_options,
+            ),
+        ]
+
+        self.enrichment_pipe = [
+            # Other models working on `NodeItem` elements in the DoclingDocument
+        ]
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def download_models_hf(
+        local_dir: Optional[Path] = None, force: bool = False
+    ) -> Path:
+        from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download
+        from huggingface_hub.utils import disable_progress_bars
+
+        disable_progress_bars()
+
+        # TODO download the correct model (private repo)
+        download_path = snapshot_download(
+            repo_id="ds4sd/xxx",
+            force_download=force,
+            local_dir=local_dir,
+        )
+
+        return Path(download_path)
+
+    def initialize_page(self, conv_res: ConversionResult, page: Page) -> Page:
+        with TimeRecorder(conv_res, "page_init"):
+            page._backend = conv_res.input._backend.load_page(page.page_no)  # type: ignore
+            if page._backend is not None and page._backend.is_valid():
+                page.size = page._backend.get_size()
+
+        return page
+
+    def _assemble_document(self, conv_res: ConversionResult) -> ConversionResult:
+
+        with TimeRecorder(conv_res, "doc_assemble", scope=ProfilingScope.DOCUMENT):
+
+            # Read and concatenate the page doctags:
+            document_tags = ""
+            for page in conv_res.pages:
+                if page.predictions.doctags is not None:
+                    document_tags += page.predictions.doctags.tag_string
+
+            # TODO implement this function
+            conv_res.document = self._turn_tags_into_doc(document_tags)
+
+            # Generate page images in the output
+            if self.pipeline_options.generate_page_images:
+                for page in conv_res.pages:
+                    assert page.image is not None
+                    page_no = page.page_no + 1
+                    conv_res.document.pages[page_no].image = ImageRef.from_pil(
+                        page.image, dpi=int(72 * self.pipeline_options.images_scale)
+                    )
+
+            # Generate images of the requested element types
+            if (
+                self.pipeline_options.generate_picture_images
+                or self.pipeline_options.generate_table_images
+            ):
+                scale = self.pipeline_options.images_scale
+                for element, _level in conv_res.document.iterate_items():
+                    if not isinstance(element, DocItem) or len(element.prov) == 0:
+                        continue
+                    if (
+                        isinstance(element, PictureItem)
+                        and self.pipeline_options.generate_picture_images
+                    ) or (
+                        isinstance(element, TableItem)
+                        and self.pipeline_options.generate_table_images
+                    ):
+                        page_ix = element.prov[0].page_no - 1
+                        page = conv_res.pages[page_ix]
+                        assert page.size is not None
+                        assert page.image is not None
+
+                        crop_bbox = (
+                            element.prov[0]
+                            .bbox.scaled(scale=scale)
+                            .to_top_left_origin(page_height=page.size.height * scale)
+                        )
+
+                        cropped_im = page.image.crop(crop_bbox.as_tuple())
+                        element.image = ImageRef.from_pil(
+                            cropped_im, dpi=int(72 * scale)
+                        )
+
+        return conv_res
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_default_options(cls) -> PdfPipelineOptions:
+        return PdfPipelineOptions()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def is_backend_supported(cls, backend: AbstractDocumentBackend):
+        return isinstance(backend, PdfDocumentBackend)
+
+    def _turn_tags_into_doc(self, document_tags):
+        return DoclingDocument()
diff --git a/docs/examples/minimal_smol_docling.py b/docs/examples/minimal_smol_docling.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7fcc19504
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/examples/minimal_smol_docling.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+from docling.datamodel.base_models import InputFormat
+from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter, PdfFormatOption
+from docling.pipeline.smol_docling_pipeline import SmolDoclingPipeline
+
+source = "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2408.09869"  # document per local path or URL
+converter = DocumentConverter(
+    doc_converter=DocumentConverter(
+        format_options={
+            InputFormat.PDF: PdfFormatOption(pipeline_cls=SmolDoclingPipeline)
+        }
+    )
+)
+result = converter.convert(source)
+print(result.document.export_to_markdown())
+# output: ## Docling Technical Report [...]"