macOS · Windows · Intel & Apple Silicon · Free & Open Source

Setup for
AI Builders

One command. Go from a fresh Mac or Windows PC to shipping AI-powered products. Want the lean build day setup? See the Light Stack ⚡ (macOS only).

Terminal — zsh
❯
bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/otto-ai-labs/setupai.dev/main/setup.sh)

Quick Start

Up and running in ~20 minutes.

An interactive checkbox menu appears before anything installs — pick exactly what you want. Want a faster lean setup? Use the Light Stack ⚡ (macOS).

1

Open Terminal

Press Cmd + Space, type Terminal, press Enter. Paste the command above and hit Enter.

2

Enter your Git details

The script asks for your name and email — use the same ones as your GitHub account.

3

Choose your tools

A checkbox menu appears for each category. With --light, heavy tools are pre-unchecked. Use ↑/↓ to move, Space to toggle, D to confirm.

4

Walk away

Everything installs automatically. Takes around 20 minutes on the light stack, up to 60 on the full install.

5

Follow the after-install checklist

Open a fresh terminal, add your SSH key to GitHub, set your API keys, and start building. See the After Install section below.

What Gets Installed

Everything you need. Nothing you don't.

Tools marked skipped in --light are off by default — you can toggle them back on in the menus.

🤖AI Tools
  • Claude Code — Anthropic's AI coding CLI
  • Codex CLI — OpenAI's coding CLI
  • GitHub CLI — manage repos & PRs
  • Ollama skipped in --light
  • AWS CLI skipped in --light
  • Terraform — infrastructure as code
  • ngrok — expose localhost to internet
🐍Languages
  • Python 3.12 — main AI/ML language
  • uv — lightning-fast package manager
  • Node.js LTS — via nvm
  • virtualenv — isolated environments
  • Python 3.11 skipped in --light
  • Jupyter / JupyterLab skipped in --light
⚡Shell & Terminal
  • Oh My Zsh — shell enhancements
  • Starship — smart, fast prompt
  • bat — cat with syntax highlighting
  • eza — modern ls with git status
  • fzf, ripgrep, fd — fast search tools
🗄Databases
  • Redis — in-memory cache & queues
  • SQLite — lightweight embedded DB
  • PostgreSQL 15 skipped in --light
  • DuckDB skipped in --light
✏️Editors
  • Cursor — AI-native editor with built-in chat
  • VS Code skipped in --light
🚀Productivity
  • Warp — AI-powered terminal
  • iTerm2 — classic terminal emulator
  • Obsidian — local markdown notes
  • Lungo — keep Mac awake
  • Shottr — screenshots with OCR
  • Raycast skipped in --light
  • LM Studio skipped in --light
  • Rectangle / AltTab skipped in --light
  • DBeaver / TablePlus skipped in --light
Customise Your Install

You choose exactly what gets installed.

A checkbox menu appears before anything installs. Use flags to control the defaults.

macOS
# Lean build day setup — recommended for most founders bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/otto-ai-labs/setupai.dev/main/setup.sh) --light
# Full install — all tools, interactive menus bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/otto-ai-labs/setupai.dev/main/setup.sh)
Windows (PowerShell as Admin)
# One-liner — clones repo and runs setup irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/otto-ai-labs/setupai.dev/main/windows/install.ps1 | iex
# Or clone first to pass your own flags git clone https://github.com/otto-ai-labs/setupai.dev.git cd setupai.dev\windows .\setup.ps1 -Light
Flag (macOS / Windows)What it does
--light / -Light Lean build day setup — pre-deselects Ollama, Jupyter, Python 3.11, PostgreSQL, DuckDB, VS Code, Raycast/PowerToys, LM Studio, DBeaver, TablePlus. Menus still shown so you can adjust.
--yes, -y / -YesAuto-answers yes to upgrade prompts. Selection menus still appear.
--minimal / -MinimalSkips all menus. Installs only languages and shell tools.
--skip-ai-tools / -SkipAiToolsSkips the AI tools category entirely.
--skip-databases / -SkipDatabasesSkips the databases category entirely.
--skip-web / -SkipWebSkips all web/JS tools — pnpm, TypeScript, ESLint, Vite, and more.
--help / -HelpShows all available options in the terminal.
After Install

You're almost ready to build.

Complete these steps after the script finishes.

Reload your terminal

Close the window and open a fresh one, or run source ~/.zshrc.

Add your SSH key to GitHub

Run cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub, copy the output, and add it at github.com/settings/keys.

Set your API keys

Add to ~/.extra (gitignored, auto-loaded):
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY='sk-ant-...'
export OPENAI_API_KEY='sk-...'

Start building

Run claude or open cursor . in your project folder.

Restart your Mac

Ensures all system-level changes (animations, Dock, performance tweaks) take full effect.