Installation

Nous runs locally on your machine. You need Node.js 22 or later and pnpm.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Version
Node.js	≥22 (LTS)
pnpm	10.x (recommended)
Disk space	~500 MB for app + models
Memory	4 GB minimum (8 GB recommended for local models)

Quick Install (from source)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/nous-oss/nous-core.git
cd nous-core

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Install launcher + run guided installer
node scripts/bootstrap/install.mjs
nous install

Alternate Launcher Commands

If you prefer shell-specific bootstrap commands:

# Windows (PowerShell)
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts/bootstrap/install.ps1
# If not recognized yet, open a new terminal first.
nous install

# macOS/Linux
bash scripts/bootstrap/install.sh
nous install

Direct Script Runner

If you do not want a launcher command at all:

pnpm run install:nous

The guided installer will:

Detect your platform (macOS, Linux, or Windows)
Install or detect Ollama (local LLM runtime)
Start Ollama and download a default model
Initialize document storage
Generate default configuration
Start the web UI and open your browser

Manual Setup

If you prefer to set up manually:

# 1. Install Ollama (if not already installed)
# macOS: brew install ollama
# Linux: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
# Windows: Download from https://ollama.com

# 2. Start Ollama and pull a model
ollama serve   # In a separate terminal
ollama pull llama3.2:3b

# 3. Build and run Nous
pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm dev:web

The web UI prefers http://localhost:4317. If that port is in use, installer/dev runtime will move to the next free port and print the resolved URL.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`NOUS_DATA_DIR`	Data directory for storage	Platform-specific (e.g. `~/.local/share/nous`)
`NOUS_CONFIG_PATH`	Path to config file	`{dataDir}/config.json5`
`NOUS_WEB_PORT`	Web/API port used by installer and CLI defaults	`4317`
`NOUS_WEB_PORT_SCAN_LIMIT`	How many ports to scan upward when preferred web port is unavailable	`20`
`NOUS_BASIC_AUTH`	Basic auth for network exposure	Not set (localhost only)

Next Steps

After installation, you'll see the first-run experience — a welcome flow that walks you through configuration and your first message to Nous.

Installation

On this page