Installation

Ahnlich ships two services — the DB engine (ahnlich-db) and the AI proxy (ahnlich-ai) — plus an interactive CLI (ahnlich-cli). Pick the install method that fits your environment; the tabs below stay in sync across the page.

🐳 Docker

Best for isolated sandboxes, CI, and quick testing — the only dependency is Docker.

Pull the latest official images:

$docker pull ghcr.io/deven96/ahnlich-db:latest$docker pull ghcr.io/deven96/ahnlich-ai:latest

Run both services with their default ports (DB → 1369, AI → 1370):

$docker run -d --name ahnlich-db -p 1369:1369 ghcr.io/deven96/ahnlich-db:latest$docker run -d --name ahnlich-ai -p 1370:1370 ghcr.io/deven96/ahnlich-ai:latest

tip

For advanced setups — tracing, persistence, and model caching — use the example docker-compose.yml in the main repository.

📦 Pre-built binaries

Great for servers without Rust or Docker. Download OS-specific binaries for db, ai, and cli from the GitHub Releases page.

Example for a Linux (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu) environment — download and extract all three binaries:

# Download the db, ai, and cli binaries for your version/platform$wget -L https://github.com/deven96/ahnlich/releases/download/bin%2Fdb%2F0.2.2/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ahnlich-db.tar.gz$wget -L https://github.com/deven96/ahnlich/releases/download/bin%2Fai%2F0.3.0/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ahnlich-ai.tar.gz$wget -L https://github.com/deven96/ahnlich/releases/download/bin%2Fcli%2F0.2.1/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ahnlich-cli.tar.gz # Extract each archive$tar -xvzf x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ahnlich-db.tar.gz$tar -xvzf x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ahnlich-ai.tar.gz$tar -xvzf x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-ahnlich-cli.tar.gz # Make the binaries executable$chmod +x ahnlich-db ahnlich-ai ahnlich-cli

Then start the services (DB → 1369, AI → 1370):

# Start the database engine$./ahnlich-db run --port 1369 # Start the AI proxy, pointing it at the DB$./ahnlich-ai run --db-host 127.0.0.1 --port 1370 --supported-models all-minilm-l6-v2 # Add --help to any binary to see all flags$./ahnlich-ai --help

note

macOS builds are available too (both Apple Silicon and Intel) — see the Releases page for the matching apple-darwin archives. Windows support is coming soon.

🦀 From source

For developers and Rust contributors who want to review code, customize defaults, or stay on the cutting edge. Requires the Rust toolchain via rustup.rs.

$git clone https://github.com/deven96/ahnlich.git$cd ahnlich $cargo build --release --bin ahnlich-db$cargo build --release --bin ahnlich-ai$cargo build --release --bin ahnlich-cli

The executables land in target/release/. Move them into your $PATH or run them directly:

$./target/release/ahnlich-db --help$./target/release/ahnlich-ai --help$./target/release/ahnlich-cli --help

Which method should I use?

Method	External dependencies	Best for	Upgrade workflow
Docker	Docker only	Isolated sandbox, CI, testing	docker pull ghcr.io/deven96/ahnlich-*
Official binaries	None (just a download tool)	Servers without Rust or Docker	Download updated files from Releases
Source (Cargo)	Rust toolchain	Custom builds, contributions	git pull && cargo build

Post-installation checklist

• Permissions — for binaries, add execution rights with chmod +x <binary>.
• Ports — ahnlich-db defaults to 1369, ahnlich-ai to 1370. Override with the --host and --port flags.
• Upgrades — keep each install method up to date:
  • Docker — pull the :latest tag.
  • Binaries — download again from the Releases page.
  • Source — run git pull && cargo build.

Next step

With the services running, head to the Quickstart to create your first store and run a semantic search.

Uninstalling

🐳 Docker

$docker compose down -v$docker rmi ghcr.io/deven96/ahnlich-ai:latest ghcr.io/deven96/ahnlich-db:latest

📦 Pre-built binaries

$rm -f ahnlich-db ahnlich-ai ahnlich-cli

🦀 From source

$cargo clean          # remove build artifacts$rm -rf target/release/ahnlich-*

Helpful links

• 🏠 Main repository & documentation
• 📦 Releases page for downloading binaries
• 🧾 Example Docker Compose file
• 📖 Full README (installation & usage guidance)