Requirements

Hardware, software, and account prerequisites for running Comis

Before installing Comis, make sure your system meets these requirements. Most of the software prerequisites can be installed in a few minutes.

You don’t need to understand the technical details to use this feature. The configuration examples below are copy-paste ready.

Platform Support

Linux is the primary deployment platform. Comis supports Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 38+, RHEL 9+, and Arch Linux.

macOS (13+ with Apple Silicon or Intel) works for development and testing but is not the primary deployment target.

Hardware

Component	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	1 core	2+ cores
RAM	512 MB	1 GB+
Disk	500 MB	2 GB+ (includes ~260 MB for local embedding model)
Network	Outbound HTTPS access	Stable broadband

Comis is lightweight by design. The main resource consumers are the local SQLite database (grows with conversation history) and the optional embedding model used for semantic memory search.

Software

You need Node.js and a small set of build tools. The build tools are required because Comis includes native modules (better-sqlite3 for the local database, sharp for image processing) that compile during installation.

Ubuntu / Debian

Install Node.js 22 from NodeSource:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Install build tools:

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential python3

Fedora / RHEL

Install Node.js 22 from NodeSource:

curl -fsSL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo dnf install -y nodejs

Install build tools:

sudo dnf install -y gcc-c++ make python3

Arch

Install Node.js and npm from the official repositories:

sudo pacman -S nodejs npm

Install build tools:

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel python

macOS Development Setup

Install Xcode Command Line Tools (provides the C++ compiler):

xcode-select --install

Install Node.js 22 via Homebrew:

brew install node@22

AI Provider Account

You need an API key from at least one AI provider. The setup wizard will ask for this during installation.

Provider	API key required	Notes
Anthropic (Claude)	Yes	Recommended default
OpenAI (GPT)	Yes
Google (Gemini)	Yes
Groq	Yes	Fast inference
Mistral	Yes
DeepSeek	Yes
xAI (Grok)	Yes
Together AI	Yes
Cerebras	Yes	Fast inference
OpenRouter	Yes	Multi-provider gateway
Ollama (local)	No	Local inference, no account needed

You can add more providers later. Start with whichever one you already have an account with. If you are unsure, Anthropic or OpenAI are the most commonly used.

Check Your Setup

Run these commands to verify your system is ready:

node --version    # Should show v22.x.x or later
npm --version     # Should show 10.x.x or later
python3 --version # Should show 3.x.x

If node --version shows a version below 22, follow the installation instructions in the Software section above to upgrade. If python3 is not found, install it using your distribution’s package manager.

Next Steps

Install on Linux

Step-by-step procedure for Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch.

Install with Docker

Container-based setup with Docker Compose.