Prerequisites

Before installing abTARS, make sure you have the following.

Node.js 22+ (required)

abTARS requires Node.js 22 or later. Recommended: Node.js 24 (latest even release).

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install node@24
brew link node@24
node --version   # should show v24.x.x

Linux / WSL (NodeSource):

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
node --version   # should show v24.x.x

Using nvm:

nvm install 24 && nvm use 24 && nvm alias default 24
node --version   # should show v24.x.x

git (required)

git --version   # any recent version

Telegram bot token (required)

Create a bot via @BotFather on Telegram. You'll need:

• The bot token (e.g. 123456:ABC-DEF...)
• Your chat ID (send /start to @userinfobot)

Model provider (at least one)

Provider	Type	Setup
ollama	Local, free	curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh (Linux) or brew install ollama (macOS)
OpenRouter	Cloud, aggregator	Sign up at openrouter.ai, get an API key. Access to all major models.
OpenAI	Cloud, direct	API key from platform.openai.com
Anthropic	Cloud, direct	API key from console.anthropic.com
Kiro CLI	Local AI coding tool	Install Kiro separately
Gemini CLI	Local AI coding tool	Install Gemini CLI separately

Model requirements

abTARS works with any LLM that supports the OpenAI chat completions API format, including local models via ollama.

	Minimum	Recommended
Context window	32K tokens	128K+ tokens
Model quality	Any instruction-following model	State-of-the-art (GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini Pro, DeepSeek V3+)

Context window: abTARS works with 32K models, but tool use eats context fast. 128K+ recommended for comfortable operation.

Model quality and security: abTARS injects persona, memory, and tool schemas into the system prompt. Weaker models may leak instructions or follow injected prompts from user messages. For production, use frontier models.

Optional dependencies

Dependency	What for	macOS	Linux/WSL
ollama	Local embeddings + models	brew install ollama	See ollama.ai
bubblewrap	Sandbox (Linux only)	N/A	apt install bubblewrap
lightpanda	Fast web fetch	See lightpanda.io	See lightpanda.io

Install all optional npm deps with one command once the CLI is available:

abtars deps install all

Ready? Go to Installation.