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Install & first run

TurboLLM is an npm package. The fastest way to try it is to run it without installing — one command starts a local daemon, opens the browser UI, and serves your models over an API.

Requirements

Install

$ npx turbollm

Prefer a global install?

# run without installing (recommended for first try)
npx turbollm

# or install globally
npm install -g turbollm
turbollm
Don't have Node? One command installs it.
  • Windows: winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS — or download the installer from nodejs.org.
  • macOS: brew install node — or the installer from nodejs.org.
  • Linux: your distro's package manager, or nodejs.org. Check with node --version — TurboLLM needs v22 or newer.

Then open a new terminal (so PATH refreshes) and run npx turbollm again.

What happens on first run

On first run the daemon:

  1. Detects your GPU and downloads a matching engine

    CUDA for NVIDIA, ROCm for AMD, Metal for Apple, SYCL for Intel, Vulkan otherwise — with a CPU fallback. Nothing to compile.

  2. Starts on http://127.0.0.1:6996

    And opens your browser automatically. Use --no-open to skip that, or --port to change the port.

  3. Drops you on the Chat screen

    Ready to load a model.

Windows SmartScreen / Defender prompt

The first time the auto-downloaded llama-server runs, SmartScreen or Defender may prompt — it's an upstream binary. Allow it once.

Android

TurboLLM is a standalone Android app — no Node.js, no terminal. Install it from the Play Store and it bundles its own inference engine, running models on your phone's CPU or GPU. The npx turbollm steps above are for desktop. iOS isn't supported yet.

Develop from source

Want to hack on TurboLLM itself?

npm install                  # daemon deps
cd web && npm install && cd ..

npm run build:web            # build the React UI -> src/webdist
npm run start                # run the daemon in dev -> :6996

npm run build                # production bundle -> dist/cli.js
node dist/cli.js --port 6996

Stack: Node ≥22 · TypeScript · Hono · node:sqlite · tsup — and a React 19 + Tailwind v4 + shadcn/ui frontend.

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