Installation

Erebros runs on your machine. There is no hosted tier and no account, you unpack or clone it, provide the credentials for the models and agents you want, and start it.

The golden rule: check before you install

Every dependency below comes with a check command. Run it first; install only when the check fails. A machine may already have Node, Ollama, Hermes or Chromium, and reinstalling risks version conflicts.

command -v <tool>      # prints a path and exits 0 if installed → skip it

Erebros is built around this: every app degrades gracefully. If an app’s external tool is missing, that app shows a setup card with instructions, the rest of the dashboard works. Install Erebros first; add tools only for the apps you actually use.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 20 (tested on v24) and npm, the only hard requirement.
• git if you install from the repository (self-update pulls from it).
• python3 for the skill-security gate and several engines.
• A shell. Linux (systemd), macOS (launchd) and Windows (Scheduled Task) each have their own autostart installer.

No system Node and no admin rights? Install a user-local copy:

curl -fSL https://nodejs.org/dist/v24.18.0/node-v24.18.0-$(uname -s | tr A-Z a-z)-$(uname -m | sed 's/x86_64/x64/;s/aarch64/arm64/').tar.gz -o /tmp/node.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/.local && tar -xzf /tmp/node.tar.gz -C ~/.local && mv ~/.local/node-v24* ~/.local/node
export PATH="$HOME/.local/node/bin:$PATH"     # add this line to your shell profile too

Get the code

From a release zip (the normal path for a new machine):

unzip erebros-1.0.42.zip -d ~/erebros && cd ~/erebros

Or from the repository, which keeps the in-app updater available:

git clone <repository-url> ~/erebros && cd ~/erebros

The repository is private; cloning needs a GitHub token with read access. An install without a git repository cannot pull updates; it is updated by unpacking a newer zip.

Linux

cd ~/erebros
npm install
cp .env.example .env.local                 # then edit, every key is optional
bash scripts/setup-skill-validator.sh      # the skill-security gate (needs python3)
npm run dev                                # → http://localhost:3300

For a long-lived machine, install it as a service. The installer builds once, registers a systemd user unit (erebros.service, restart on crash, a two-minute health watchdog) and provisions the free offline engines:

bash scripts/install-autostart.sh --now
loginctl enable-linger "$USER"             # or the service stops when you log out

After that, do not run npm run dev by hand, the service owns port 3300. Restart it with systemctl --user restart erebros; read logs with journalctl --user -u erebros -f.

macOS

Same first four commands as Linux. Then either run npm run dev in a terminal, or register a launchd agent:

bash scripts/install-autostart-macos.sh --now

It writes a LaunchAgent that starts Erebros at login and restarts it on crash. Restart with launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.erebros.mission-control; logs land in ~/Library/Logs/.

Windows

Use PowerShell (or Git Bash for the Unix-style commands in the other guides):

cd ~\erebros
npm install
Copy-Item .env.example .env.local
npm run dev                                # → http://localhost:3300

For autostart, run scripts/install-autostart-windows.ps1 once, it provisions the same engines and registers a Scheduled Task named Erebros that starts at logon. Stop and start it with Stop-ScheduledTask -TaskName Erebros / Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName Erebros.

Credentials

Copy the example environment file and fill in only the keys you need. Nothing is required to boot; each provider turns on when its key is present.

cp .env.example .env.local

Environment files are read only at server startup, restart after editing. Keys can also be added from Settings → Secrets inside the app, which writes the same file. See Configuration for what goes where, and Add an API key for the step-by-step.

Optional tools

Each app says what it needs on its own page. The short list, with the check:

App(s)	Tool	Check
Chat (Claude engine) · Loop · Pipeline · SEO-Forge · M-Forge Compose / OpenMontage · Mastermind	Claude Code CLI	command -v claude
Chat (Codex)	OpenAI Codex CLI	command -v codex
Chat (Grok)	Grok Build CLI	command -v grok
Chat (Antigravity)	agy CLI or the Antigravity proxy	command -v agy
Chat (Qwen Code)	qwen CLI	command -v qwen
Chat (Local) · Loop local judge	Ollama + a pulled model	command -v ollama
Hermes · Kanban · Hermes Swarm · Game Studio	Hermes Agent	command -v hermes
OpenCode	OpenCode CLI	command -v opencode
P-Forge courses · M-Forge Studio	python3, ffmpeg, rsvg-convert	command -v python3 ffmpeg rsvg-convert
G-Forge · P-Forge renders	Blender + Godot (portable)	blender --version

scripts/setup-free-engines.sh provisions the free offline engines (Kokoro, Supertonic, Whisper, yt-dlp); scripts/setup-3d-engines.sh the 3D ones; the autostart installers run both. The full matrix is DEPENDENCIES.md in the repo.

PATH for spawned CLIs. Erebros spawns agents with PATH extended by ~/.local/bin, ~/.local/node/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin and /usr/local/bin. A tool that lives elsewhere: symlink it into ~/.local/bin.

Deploying on a server

It works, with caveats: Erebros spawns CLIs on the host and its only authentication is the remote-access PIN. Install the agents on that server, log Claude in with claude setup-token, keep the bind on loopback and reach it over Tailscale or an SSH tunnel, never expose port 3300 to the internet. Read Security & remote access before you open it to any other host.

Next

• Quickstart, first chat, the global model, first Mastermind.
• Configuration, where state and keys live.
• Updating, moving an install to a newer version in place.