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Installing PriestAI
Install the Windows beta, check model fit and choose your shortcuts. Setup reports missing requirements before you start.
What you need
- Windows 10 or 11. That is the supported desktop today; for Linux, follow the separate setup below. A native Mac installer is not available.
- About 8 GB of free disk space for the installer, about 1.5 GB for the model runtime, and 1 to 5 GB for a first model. The releases page lists the current installer size.
- About 8 GB of memory. A model needs roughly its own file size in free memory, plus about a gigabyte for the conversation. It uses the graphics card's memory when it fits there and system memory when it does not.
- A graphics card is optional. Supported NVIDIA, AMD or Intel hardware can help. Compatibility depends on the model runtime, card and drivers; review the model-fit results in Setup.
- An internet connection for the install — 2 to 7 GB comes down, about 5 to 20 minutes on a 50 Mbps line. After that, installed local models can work offline. Cloud models and connected tools still need a network connection.
- Local setup needs no cloud account or API key. Cloud models may require your own provider account and key.
You do not have to work any of this out before you start. The installer measures this machine first and says, for each model it offers, whether it runs well, runs acceptably, runs with limitations or cannot run here — and where it could not measure something, it says that instead of guessing.
Run the installer
Download PriestAI Setup.exe from the releases page and run it. The installer measures as it goes and reports what it found: whether Ollama answers, which models it holds, whether another runtime (LM Studio, or any OpenAI-compatible server) is answering on your network, and whether the panel's port is free. Anything missing is reported by name.
You choose: the install folder, a desktop shortcut for the app, one for the console, and whether to put the priestai command on your PATH (on by default, so the command works right after the install).
After the install
Setup can add these shortcuts and commands:
| Thing | Where | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Priest AI | Desktop shortcut | The panel: the main window for chat, models, machines and spending. |
| PriestAltar | Desktop shortcut | The console: the same engine in a terminal. |
| priestai | app\bin\priestai.cmd, on your PATH | The command-line entry point, used like ollama. See the console page. |
The command
PriestAI> priestai resume # continue your newest conversation
PriestAI> priestai --status # what is running, what is not, which model is selected
Linux setup
Download the ZIP from Releases, compare its SHA-256 with the published value and extract it into a folder you own and will keep. The Windows EXE does not run on Linux. You need Python 3.11 or newer and its venv package; on Mint and Ubuntu these are python3 and python3-venv.
Open a terminal in the extracted folder and run:
python3 linux/install.py --desktop ~/.local/bin/priestai ~/.local/bin/priestai --console ~/.local/bin/priestai --cli --help
The installer creates a private Python environment and user launchers. It does not use sudo, install system packages or edit your shell settings. Omit --desktop for terminal commands only. Keep the extracted folder in place. To register website app links, run the installer with --protocol.
Installer, CLI, desktop links and panel checks have run on Ubuntu 24.04 and Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon in isolated virtual machines. Other distributions, GPUs and optional integrations need their own checks. Install a model runtime separately for local inference. The panel stays on this computer at 127.0.0.1:7666; close it with Ctrl+C in the terminal that started it. The ZIP's linux/README.md covers updating, uninstalling and remaining limits.
Uninstalling on Windows
The uninstaller removes the program, the shortcuts, the priestai command and its PATH entry — everything it installed. Your conversations and settings stay on disk so an uninstall never deletes your work; remove them by hand if you want them gone.
Current release status
The release page lists the current public version and verified download hashes. Read the release status for validation scope and work still in development.