Install Conda

MLC LLM does not depend on, but generally recommends conda as a generic dependency manager, primarily because it creates unified cross-platform experience to make windows/Linux/macOS development equally easy. Moreover, conda is python-friendly and provides all the python packages needed for MLC LLM, such as numpy.

.. contents:: Table of Contents :depth: 2

Install Miniconda

Use installer. Miniconda, a minimal distribution of conda, comes with out-of-box installer across Windows/macOS/Linux. Please refer to its official website <https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html#latest-miniconda-installer-links>_ link for detailed instructions.

Set libmamba as the dependency solver. The default dependency solver in conda could be slow in certain scenarios, and it is always recommended to upgrade it to libmamba, a faster solver.

.. code-block:: bash :caption: Set libmamba as the default solver

update conda

conda update --yes -n base -c defaults conda

install conda-libmamba-solver

conda install --yes -n base conda-libmamba-solver

set it as the default solver

conda config --set solver libmamba

.. note:: Conda is a generic dependency manager, which is not necessarily related to any Python distributions. In fact, some of our tutorials recommends to use conda to install cmake, git and rust for its unified experience across OS platforms.

Validate installation

Step 1. Check conda-arch mismatch. Nowadays macOS runs on two different architectures: arm64 and x86_64, which could particularly lead to many misuses in MLC LLM, where the error message hints about "architecture mismatch". Use the following command to make sure particular conda architecture is installed accordingly:

.. code-block:: bash :caption: Check conda architecture

conda info | grep platform

for arm mac

platform : osx-arm64

for x86 mac

platform : osx-64

Step 2. Check conda virtual environment. If you have installed python in your conda virtual environment, make sure conda, Python and pip are all from this environment:

.. code-block:: bash :caption: Check conda virtual environment (macOS, Linux)

echo $CONDA_PREFIX /.../miniconda3/envs/mlc-doc-venv which python /.../miniconda3/envs/mlc-doc-venv/bin/python which pip /.../miniconda3/envs/mlc-doc-venv/bin/pip

.. code-block:: bat :caption: Check conda virtual environment (Windows)

echo $Env:CONDA_PREFIX ...\miniconda3\envs\mlc-doc-venv Get-Command python.exe ...\miniconda3\envs\mlc-doc-venv\bin\python.exe Get-Command pip.exe ...\miniconda3\envs\mlc-doc-venv\bin\pip.exe