diff --git a/llama.cpp b/llama.cpp
index 2482bdd18..adc2f11e3 100644
--- a/llama.cpp
+++ b/llama.cpp
@@ -3336,7 +3336,7 @@ size_t llama_set_state_data(struct llama_context * ctx, uint8_t * src) {
     return nread;
 }
 
-bool llama_load_session_file(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_session, llama_token * tokens_out, size_t n_token_capacity, size_t * n_token_count_out) {
+void llama_load_session_file_internal(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_session, llama_token * tokens_out, size_t n_token_capacity, size_t * n_token_count_out) {
     llama_file file(path_session, "rb");
 
     // sanity checks
@@ -3345,16 +3345,14 @@ bool llama_load_session_file(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_sessi
         const uint32_t version = file.read_u32();
 
         if (magic != LLAMA_SESSION_MAGIC || version != LLAMA_SESSION_VERSION) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "%s : unknown (magic, version) for session file: %08x, %08x\n", __func__, magic, version);
-            return false;
+            throw std::runtime_error(format("%s : unknown (magic, version) for session file: %08x, %08x\n", __func__, magic, version));
         }
 
         llama_hparams session_hparams;
         file.read_raw(&session_hparams, sizeof(llama_hparams));
 
         if (session_hparams != ctx->model.hparams) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "%s : model hparams didn't match from session file!\n", __func__);
-            return false;
+            throw std::runtime_error(format("%s : model hparams didn't match from session file!\n", __func__));
         }
     }
 
@@ -3363,8 +3361,7 @@ bool llama_load_session_file(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_sessi
         const uint32_t n_token_count = file.read_u32();
 
         if (n_token_count > n_token_capacity) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "%s : token count in session file exceeded capacity! %u > %zu\n", __func__, n_token_count, n_token_capacity);
-            return false;
+            throw std::runtime_error(format("%s : token count in session file exceeded capacity! %u > %zu\n", __func__, n_token_count, n_token_capacity));
         }
 
         file.read_raw(tokens_out, sizeof(llama_token) * n_token_count);
@@ -3377,8 +3374,7 @@ bool llama_load_session_file(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_sessi
         const size_t n_state_size_max = llama_get_state_size(ctx);
 
         if (n_state_size_cur > n_state_size_max) {
-            fprintf(stderr, "%s : the state size in session file is too big! max %zu, got %zu\n", __func__, n_state_size_max, n_state_size_cur);
-            return false;
+            throw std::runtime_error(format("%s : the state size in session file is too big! max %zu, got %zu\n", __func__, n_state_size_max, n_state_size_cur));
         }
 
         std::vector<uint8_t> state_data(n_state_size_max);
@@ -3386,8 +3382,16 @@ bool llama_load_session_file(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_sessi
 
         llama_set_state_data(ctx, state_data.data());
     }
+}
 
-    return true;
+bool llama_load_session_file(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_session, llama_token * tokens_out, size_t n_token_capacity, size_t * n_token_count_out) {
+    try {
+        llama_load_session_file_internal(ctx, path_session, tokens_out, n_token_capacity, n_token_count_out);
+        return true;
+    } catch (const std::exception & err) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "error loading session file: %s\n", err.what());
+        return false;
+    }
 }
 
 bool llama_save_session_file(struct llama_context * ctx, const char * path_session, const llama_token * tokens, size_t n_token_count) {