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Quickstart Guide

Prerequisites​

Before getting started with Eliza, ensure you have:

Installation​

  1. Clone and Install

    Please be sure to check what the latest available stable version tag is.

    Clone the repository

    git clone https://github.com/ai16z/eliza.git

    Enter directory

    cd eliza

    Switch to latest tagged release

     # Checkout the latest release
     # This project iterates fast, so we recommend checking out the latest release
     git checkout $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)

    Install dependencies (on initial run)

    pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile

    Quickstart Guide Update

Important Note on pnpm Lockfile Management

By default, the pnpm lockfile will not be updated during installations based off of .npmrc frozen-lockfile=true. To update the lockfile, you need to run the command:

pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile

Please only use this command when you initially instantiating the repo or are bumping the version of a package or adding a new package to your package.json. This practice helps maintain consistency in your project's dependencies and prevents unintended changes to the lockfile.

Build the local libraries

pnpm build

  1. Configure Environment

    Copy example environment file

    cp .env.example .env

    Edit .env and add your values:

    # Suggested quickstart environment variables
    DISCORD_APPLICATION_ID=  # For Discord integration
    DISCORD_API_TOKEN=      # Bot token
    HEURIST_API_KEY=       # Heurist API key for LLM and image generation
    OPENAI_API_KEY=        # OpenAI API key
    GROK_API_KEY=          # Grok API key
    ELEVENLABS_XI_API_KEY= # API key from elevenlabs (for voice)

Choose Your Model​

Eliza supports multiple AI models:

  • Heurist: Set modelProvider: "heurist" in your character file. Most models are uncensored.
    • LLM: Select available LLMs here and configure SMALL_HEURIST_MODEL,MEDIUM_HEURIST_MODEL,LARGE_HEURIST_MODEL
    • Image Generation: Select available Stable Diffusion or Flux models here and configure HEURIST_IMAGE_MODEL (default is FLUX.1-dev)
  • Llama: Set XAI_MODEL=meta-llama/Meta-Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct-Turbo
  • Grok: Set XAI_MODEL=grok-beta
  • OpenAI: Set XAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini or gpt-4o

You set which model to use inside the character JSON file

Local inference​

For llama_local inference:​

  1. Set XAI_MODEL to your chosen model
  2. Leave X_SERVER_URL and XAI_API_KEY blank
  3. The system will automatically download the model from Hugging Face
  4. LOCAL_LLAMA_PROVIDER can be blank

Note: llama_local requires a GPU, it currently will not work with CPU inference

For Ollama inference:​

  • If OLLAMA_SERVER_URL is left blank, it defaults to localhost:11434
  • If OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_MODE is left blank, it defaults to mxbai-embed-large

Create Your First Agent​

  1. Create a Character File

    Check out characters/trump.character.json or characters/tate.character.json as a template you can use to copy and customize your agent's personality and behavior. Additionally you can read core/src/core/defaultCharacter.ts (in 0.0.10 but post-refactor will be in packages/core/src/defaultCharacter.ts)

    📝 Character Documentation

  2. Start the Agent

    Inform it which character you want to run:

    pnpm start --character="characters/trump.character.json"

    You can also load multiple characters with the characters option with a comma separated list:

    pnpm start --characters="characters/trump.character.json,characters/tate.character.json"

  3. Interact with the Agent

    Now you're ready to start a conversation with your agent! Open a new terminal window

    pnpm start:client

    Once the client is running, you'll see a message like this:

➜  Local:   http://localhost:5173/

Simply click the link or open your browser to http://localhost:5173/. You'll see the chat interface connect to the system, and you can begin interacting with your character.

Platform Integration​

Discord Bot Setup​

  1. Create a new application at Discord Developer Portal
  2. Create a bot and get your token
  3. Add bot to your server using OAuth2 URL generator
  4. Set DISCORD_API_TOKEN and DISCORD_APPLICATION_ID in your .env

Twitter Integration​

Add to your .env:

TWITTER_USERNAME=  # Account username
TWITTER_PASSWORD=  # Account password
TWITTER_EMAIL=    # Account email
TWITTER_COOKIES=  # Account cookies (auth_token and CT0)

Example for TWITTER_COOKIES

The TWITTER_COOKIES variable should be a JSON string containing the necessary cookies. You can find these cookies in your web browser's developer tools. Here is an example format:

TWITTER_COOKIES='[{"key":"auth_token","value":"your token","domain":".twitter.com"},
  {"key":"ct0","value":"your ct0","domain":".twitter.com"},
  {"key":"guest_id","value":"your guest_id","domain":".twitter.com"}]'

Telegram Bot​

  1. Create a bot
  2. Add your bot token to .env:
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_token_here

Optional: GPU Acceleration​

If you have an NVIDIA GPU:

# Install CUDA support
npx --no node-llama-cpp source download --gpu cuda

# Ensure CUDA Toolkit, cuDNN, and cuBLAS are installed

Basic Usage Examples​

Chat with Your Agent​

# Start chat interface
pnpm start

Run Multiple Agents​

pnpm start --characters="characters/trump.character.json,characters/tate.character.json"

Common Issues & Solutions​

  1. Node.js Version

    • Ensure Node.js 23.3.0 is installed
    • Use node -v to check version
    • Consider using nvm to manage Node versions

  2. Sharp Installation If you see Sharp-related errors:

    pnpm install --include=optional sharp

  3. CUDA Setup

    • Verify CUDA Toolkit installation
    • Check GPU compatibility with toolkit
    • Ensure proper environment variables are set

  4. Exit Status 1 If you see

    triggerUncaughtException(
    ^
    [Object: null prototype] {
    [Symbol(nodejs.util.inspect.custom)]: [Function: [nodejs.util.inspect.custom]]
    }

    You can try these steps, which aim to add @types/node to various parts of the project

    # Add dependencies to workspace root
    pnpm add -w -D ts-node typescript @types/node

    # Add dependencies to the agent package specifically
    pnpm add -D ts-node typescript @types/node --filter "@ai16z/agent"

    # Also add to the core package since it's needed there too
    pnpm add -D ts-node typescript @types/node --filter "@ai16z/eliza"

    # First clean everything
    pnpm clean

    # Install all dependencies recursively
    pnpm install -r

    # Build the project
    pnpm build

    # Then try to start
    pnpm start

  5. Better sqlite3 was compiled against a different Node.js version If you see

    Error starting agents: Error: The module '.../eliza-agents/dv/eliza/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node'
    was compiled against a different Node.js version using
    NODE_MODULE_VERSION 131. This version of Node.js requires
    NODE_MODULE_VERSION 127. Please try re-compiling or re-installing

    You can try this, which will attempt to rebuild better-sqlite3.

    pnpm rebuild better-sqlite3

    If that doesn't work, try clearing your node_modules in the root folder

    rm -fr node_modules; pnpm store prune

    Then reinstall the requirements

    pnpm i

Next Steps​

Once you have your agent running, explore:

  1. 🤖 Understand Agents
  2. 📝 Create Custom Characters
  3. ⚡ Add Custom Actions
  4. 🔧 Advanced Configuration

For detailed API documentation, troubleshooting, and advanced features, check out our full documentation.

Join our Discord community for support and updates!