diff --git a/haystack/nodes/prompt/invocation_layer/hugging_face.py b/haystack/nodes/prompt/invocation_layer/hugging_face.py
index b68137067..d0a795dc0 100644
--- a/haystack/nodes/prompt/invocation_layer/hugging_face.py
+++ b/haystack/nodes/prompt/invocation_layer/hugging_face.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from typing import Optional, Union, List, Dict
 import logging
+import os
 
 import torch
 
@@ -266,6 +267,9 @@ class HFLocalInvocationLayer(PromptModelInvocationLayer):
     @classmethod
     def supports(cls, model_name_or_path: str, **kwargs) -> bool:
         task_name: Optional[str] = None
+        if os.path.exists(model_name_or_path):
+            return True
+
         try:
             task_name = get_task(model_name_or_path, use_auth_token=kwargs.get("use_auth_token", None))
         except RuntimeError: