Prerequisites

Everything you need before installing DB-GPT.

Quick check

Already have Python 3.10+ and uv? Skip to Getting Started.

Required

Requirement	Version	Check command
Python	3.10 or newer	python --version
uv	Latest	uv --version
Git	Any recent	git --version

Python

DB-GPT requires Python 3.10+. We recommend Python 3.11 for the best compatibility.

python --version
# Python 3.11.x

info

If you need to manage multiple Python versions, consider using pyenv or conda.

uv (package manager)

Starting from v0.7.0, DB-GPT uses uv for environment and package management, providing faster and more stable dependency resolution.

macOS / Linux

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

pipx

python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install --upgrade pipx
python -m pipx ensurepath
pipx install uv --global

Other

See the full uv installation guide for Homebrew, Scoop, and other methods.

Verify the installation:

uv --version

Choose the right setup first

• Fastest setup: API proxy model (OpenAI, DeepSeek, Qwen, SiliconFlow) — no GPU required
• Privacy-first local setup: Ollama — local model runtime, optional GPU
• High-performance local inference: vLLM or HuggingFace GPU stack — NVIDIA GPU required

Optional (based on deployment)

For Web UI development

Requirement	Version	Check command
Node.js	18 or newer	node --version
npm	8 or newer	npm --version

For local model deployment

Requirement	Details
NVIDIA GPU	CUDA 12.1+ for GPU-accelerated inference
CUDA Toolkit	Required for vLLM, HuggingFace Transformers with GPU
Sufficient VRAM	8 GB+ for 7B models, 24 GB+ for 13B+ models

info

If you only use API proxy models (OpenAI, DeepSeek, etc.), no GPU is required. You can run on a CPU-only machine.

For Docker deployment

Requirement	Version	Check command
Docker	20.10+	docker --version
Docker Compose	2.0+	docker compose version
NVIDIA Container Toolkit	Latest (GPU only)	nvidia-smi

System resources

Deployment Type	CPU	RAM	Disk
API proxy only	2 cores	4 GB	10 GB
Local 7B model	4 cores	16 GB	30 GB
Local 13B+ model	8 cores	32 GB	60 GB

Network considerations (China)

If you are in the China region, configure a PyPI mirror for faster package downloads:

# Set the mirror as environment variable
echo "export UV_INDEX_URL=https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Or append --index-url to each uv sync command:

uv sync --all-packages \
  --extra "base" \
  --extra "proxy_openai" \
  --index-url=https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple

Next step

Ready to go? Head to Getting Started for a 5-minute setup.