docs: explain the prebuilt Windows binary — what the .exe is and how to run it (#450)

The release ships colibri-<ver>-windows-x86_64.zip but nothing said what the
.exe is for or how to use it. The quickstart's Windows Option A now lists the
zip contents (engine .exe / coli launcher / Python support), and gives the two
missing steps: rename the engine to glm.exe so the coli launcher finds it, and
install Python 3 for the launcher/gateway. README's run section gets a short
Windows-prebuilt pointer to the same. Docs-only.

Closes #450

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
JustVugg
2026-07-20 17:23:21 +02:00
parent 505a0f69aa
commit 7de49fa02d
2 changed files with 32 additions and 5 deletions
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@@ -187,6 +187,13 @@ COLI_MODEL=/nvme/glm52_i4 ./coli doctor # read-only readiness check
The engine at runtime is pure C — python is only used by the one-time converter
and the optional API gateway.
**On Windows?** You don't need to build. Download the
`colibri-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip` from
[Releases](https://github.com/JustVugg/colibri/releases), unzip it, rename
`colibri-*-windows-x86_64.exe``glm.exe` (so the `coli` launcher finds the
engine), install [Python 3](https://www.python.org/downloads/), then run
`coli chat`. Full walkthrough in the [Quick Start guide](docs/quickstart.md#windows).
Prefer a `coli` command on your PATH? From a checkout, `pip install -e .`
registers it (the engine itself still lives in `c/` — this is an editable
install from the clone, not a standalone wheel).
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@@ -42,11 +42,31 @@ engine needs.
You have two options.
**Option A — download a prebuilt binary (no compiler needed).**
Grab the latest `colibri-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip` from the
[Releases page](https://github.com/JustVugg/colibri/releases), unzip it, and
skip to [step 3](#3-get-the-model). Python 3 (from
[python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/)) is still needed if you want to
convert a model yourself.
Grab `colibri-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip` from the
[Releases page](https://github.com/JustVugg/colibri/releases) and unzip it.
Inside you'll find:
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
| `colibri-<version>-windows-x86_64.exe` | **the engine** — the C program that actually runs the model |
| `coli` | the command-line launcher (`chat`, `serve`, `convert`, `doctor`, …) |
| `openai_server.py`, `resource_plan.py`, `doctor.py` | Python support for the API server and placement planner |
Two setup steps:
1. **Rename the engine to `glm.exe`** so the launcher can find it (it looks for a
binary named `glm`):
```powershell
Rename-Item colibri-*-windows-x86_64.exe glm.exe
```
2. **Install Python 3** from [python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/) — the
`coli` launcher and the API gateway are Python scripts (the engine itself is
pure C and needs nothing).
Then continue to [step 3](#3-get-the-model). Prefer to skip the launcher? You can
run the engine directly — `.\glm.exe` reads the model path from the `SNAP`
environment variable (see [docs/windows.md](windows.md)) — but `coli chat` is the
easy path.
**Option B — build from source with MSYS2.**
Install [MSYS2](https://www.msys2.org/), open the **UCRT64** shell, and run: