docs: beginner-friendly Quick Start guide for Linux/Windows/macOS (#414)
Adds docs/quickstart.md — a step-by-step, no-experience-assumed walkthrough from installing the build tools to the first coli chat, with per-OS copy-paste commands (Ubuntu apt, Windows MSYS2 or prebuilt binary, macOS brew), the ready-made HF int4 container plus the self-convert path, and an honest 'what to expect' on disk-bound speed. Commands verified against setup.sh and the coli subcommands; every cross-linked doc exists. Linked from the README's Get started section. Closes #414 Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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# Quick Start — from zero to a running model
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A step-by-step guide for first-time users on **Linux**, **Windows**, and **macOS**.
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No prior experience with C, CUDA, or model conversion is assumed. If you get
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stuck, `./coli doctor` (below) tells you exactly what's missing.
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> **What you're setting up:** colibrì runs a very large Mixture-of-Experts model
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> (e.g. GLM-5.2, 744B parameters) on a normal machine by streaming the model's
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> experts from disk instead of needing them all in RAM. The engine is a single
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> C program; Python is only used once, to prepare the model files.
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---
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## 0. What you need first (prerequisites)
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| | Minimum | Recommended |
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|---|---|---|
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| **RAM** | ~16 GB | 24 GB+ |
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| **Free disk** | ~380 GB for the int4 model | a fast NVMe SSD (streaming speed = your token speed) |
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| **OS** | Linux, Windows 10/11, or macOS | any |
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| **Tools** | a C compiler + `make` + `git` + `python3` | — |
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You do **not** need a GPU. A GPU only helps if you have one; the engine runs
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CPU-only by default.
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---
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## 1. Install the build tools
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### Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)
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```bash
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sudo apt update
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sudo apt install -y build-essential git python3
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```
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`build-essential` gives you `gcc`, `make`, and OpenMP (libgomp) — everything the
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engine needs.
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### Windows
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You have two options.
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**Option A — download a prebuilt binary (no compiler needed).**
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Grab the latest `colibri-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip` from the
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[Releases page](https://github.com/JustVugg/colibri/releases), unzip it, and
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skip to [step 3](#3-get-the-model). Python 3 (from
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[python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/)) is still needed if you want to
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convert a model yourself.
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**Option B — build from source with MSYS2.**
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Install [MSYS2](https://www.msys2.org/), open the **UCRT64** shell, and run:
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```bash
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pacman -S --needed mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc make git python
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```
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### macOS
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```bash
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xcode-select --install # C compiler (clang)
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brew install libomp git python # OpenMP for multithreading
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```
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---
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## 2. Get the code and build the engine
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```bash
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git clone https://github.com/JustVugg/colibri.git
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cd colibri/c
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./setup.sh
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```
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`setup.sh` checks your compiler and OpenMP, builds the engine, and runs a tiny
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self-test. When it prints:
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```
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engine self-test: 32/32 (expected 32/32)
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```
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the engine is working correctly. (On Windows Option A you already have the
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binary — you can skip this step.)
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---
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## 3. Get the model
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You have two paths.
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### Easiest — download a ready-made int4 container
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A pre-converted **GLM-5.2 int4** model is on Hugging Face. **Use the version
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with the int8 MTP heads** (the plain int4 heads disable speculative decoding —
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see [#8](https://github.com/JustVugg/colibri/issues/8)):
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**https://huggingface.co/mateogrgic/GLM-5.2-colibri-int4-with-int8-mtp**
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Download it into a folder on a fast disk, e.g. `/nvme/glm52_i4` (Linux/macOS) or
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`D:\glm52_i4` (Windows). It is about **372 GB**, so make sure you have the space.
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### Or convert it yourself from the FP8 source
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One resumable command downloads and converts the model shard by shard, so it
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never needs the full ~756 GB on disk at once:
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```bash
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./coli convert --model /nvme/glm52_i4
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```
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This step uses Python and runs only once. Safe to interrupt and re-run — it
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resumes where it left off.
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---
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## 4. Run it
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Point `COLI_MODEL` at the folder from step 3 and start chatting:
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```bash
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# Linux / macOS
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COLI_MODEL=/nvme/glm52_i4 ./coli chat
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# Windows (UCRT64 shell)
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COLI_MODEL=/d/glm52_i4 ./coli chat
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```
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Useful first commands:
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```bash
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COLI_MODEL=/nvme/glm52_i4 ./coli doctor # read-only check: is everything ready?
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COLI_MODEL=/nvme/glm52_i4 ./coli plan # shows where the model will live (RAM/disk/GPU)
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COLI_MODEL=/nvme/glm52_i4 ./coli chat --topp 0.85 # faster: reads less from disk, same quality
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```
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> **Tip:** `--topp 0.85` is worth adding on a disk-bound machine — it reads
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> fewer expert bytes per token with no quality loss, which directly means more
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> tokens per second.
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---
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## 5. What to expect
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- **First launch loads the resident weights** (~10 GB) — this takes a moment.
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- **Speed depends on your disk.** The experts stream from storage, so a fast
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NVMe SSD is the single biggest factor in tokens/second. On a slow or shared
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disk, generation can be well under 1 token/second — that's expected, and it's
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the honest cost of running a 744B model on a small machine.
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- **It's still the full model.** Placement only changes speed, never the model's
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answers or precision.
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If something doesn't work, run `./coli doctor` — it reports exactly what's
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missing (compiler, model files, permissions) and how to fix it.
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---
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## Where to go next
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| Topic | Doc |
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| Windows native build (and CUDA DLL) | [docs/windows.md](windows.md) |
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| Tuning: cache, prefetch, speculation | [docs/tuning.md](tuning.md) |
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| OpenAI-compatible API + web dashboard | [docs/api.md](api.md) |
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| Every environment variable | [docs/ENVIRONMENT.md](ENVIRONMENT.md) |
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