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Quick install

The fast path from nothing to a running clika-modelverse executable. It needs no compiler and no runtime dependencies; everything below runs the extracted directory in place.

0. Prerequisites​

A terminal and tar with xz support (Linux, macOS and Windows 10+ have it out of the box). Nothing else: the archive carries the ClikaRT runtime and Modelverse together. (A C++17 toolchain becomes relevant only in part 4 of the tutorial, when you embed Modelverse in your own program.)

1. Extract the archive​

One archive per platform (Get Modelverse has the download and checksum commands), one directory out of it, and that directory is the whole install:

tar -xf ClikaRT_linux_x86_64-<version>.tar.xz
export MODELVERSE_INSTALL_DIR="$PWD/ClikaRT_linux_x86_64-<version>"
ls "$MODELVERSE_INSTALL_DIR"

The ls is the success check: bin/, cmake/, include/, lib/ and modelverse.json are there, and README-Modelverse.md sits beside the runtime's own README.md. The runtime's libraries and the Modelverse library share lib/, which is exactly where bin/clika-modelverse looks for them. A new terminal loses the export; re-run it there.

2. Ask it about this machine​

The fastest proof the install works: it loads the runtime, probes the compute backends, and prints what it found. Nothing gets installed and no network is touched.

"$MODELVERSE_INSTALL_DIR"/bin/clika-modelverse devices
== compute devices on this machine ==
CPU      available
CUDA     available
Vulkan   available
TPU      compiled, not loaded
device    name                     driver     runtime  memory_gb   sm_count  compute_capability  warp  max_threads_per_block  shared_mem_kb  tensor_cores  fp16  bf16  fp8_e4m3  status
CPU:0     AMD                      -          -        61.95013    6         -                   1     0                      0              no            yes   yes   no        ok
CUDA:0    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080  13.2       13.3     15.569031   76        8.9                 32    1024                   48             yes           yes   yes   yes       ok
Vulkan:0  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080  595.71.05  1.3.0    15.9921875  0         -                   32    1024                   0              yes           yes   yes   no        ok

Your table shows your hardware; CPU available alone is a pass. A backend listed as compiled, not loaded was built into this dist but found no usable device or driver on this machine. The status column reads ok for a device this build can run work on; a device that is present but unusable under this build names the reason there instead of failing at first use.

3. Print the catalog​

The second command proves the model registry is intact, still with no network:

"$MODELVERSE_INSTALL_DIR"/bin/clika-modelverse list
registered model families (54 runnable; 9 hidden, --all shows all)

chatterbox  runnable
  *  Input Modalities: text
  * Output Modalities: audio
  *      Valid Combos: text -> audio
  *          Commands: speak, serve, bench
  *            Web UI: generic page
  *            Vendor: Resemble AI
-----------------------------------------
...

The list is long; --full adds each family's description. For convenience, put bin/ on your PATH; the commands in the rest of the documentation assume clika-modelverse resolves.

export PATH="$MODELVERSE_INSTALL_DIR/bin:$PATH"

If something failed​

  • tar: xz: Cannot exec or xz: command not found: install xz-utils (Debian/Ubuntu) or xz.
  • No such file or directory on the binary: the archive does not match this machine; cat "$MODELVERSE_INSTALL_DIR/dist.json" names the platform it was built for.
  • A shared-library error on start: the binary finds its libraries in lib/ relative to itself, so run it inside the extracted directory; copying bin/clika-modelverse out alone breaks that lookup.
  • A runtime-mismatch error on start: this Modelverse build pins the ClikaRT it linked against (modelverse.json at the directory's top level); a directory hand-mixed from two releases is refused. Extract one archive, unmodified, and it clears.

The install works. Pick a model.