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How to install PlantGPT on Mac

PlantGPT does what EcoGPT does, and EcoGPT costs $240/year. This guide gets you the free one.

What you end up with

PlantGPT installed like any other app on your Mac. It is free, and it stays free — there is no account, no trial and no subscription at the end of this.

Time
About 10 minutes
Steps
12
Cost
Free

Before you start

These are one-time installs. If you have used Terminal before, you may have them already — the first step checks.

  1. Install Git

    Apple opens a small installer.

    Type this into Terminal, then press Return.

    xcode-select --install

    You know this worked when: Git responds with a version number

  2. Install Node LTS

    Choose the macOS Installer (.pkg).

    Open download

    You know this worked when: Node responds with a version number

Install PlantGPT

  1. Open Terminal

    Keep it open beside this page.

    You know this worked when: Terminal is open

  2. Download Ollama

    PlantGPT's engine. Chat runs inside Ollama on your own Mac — free, no account.

    Download Ollama

    You know this worked when: Ollama finished downloading

  3. Put Ollama in Applications

    Unzip the download, drag Ollama in, open it once. A llama icon joins the menu bar.

    You know this worked when: The llama icon is in the menu bar

  4. Get a chat model

    About 2 GB. On a 16 GB+ Mac, pull qwen2.5:7b instead for better answers.

    Type this into Terminal, then press Return.

    ollama pull qwen2.5:3b

    You know this worked when: The pull finishes with success

  5. Install Rust

    Tauri's core is Rust. Run the single command the page shows, then reopen Terminal.

    Open rustup

    You know this worked when: cargo responds with a version number

  6. Get PlantGPT

    Type this into Terminal, then press Return.

    cd ~
if [ ! -d plantgpt/.git ]; then
git clone https://github.com/Blueturboguy07/plantgpt.git
fi
cd plantgpt
git checkout 0e2cf7ae118beee65d9a07c1659de2b2ab4b85cd

    You know this worked when: You are inside the plantgpt folder

  7. Build PlantGPT

    First build compiles Rust — 10 to 20 minutes. The app lands in the bundle folder.

    Type this into Terminal, then press Return.

    npm install
npm run tauri build --bundles app

    You know this worked when: The build finishes with a PlantGPT.app

  8. Put PlantGPT in Applications

    Copy the freshly built app into Applications so it's a real, launchable Mac app.

    Type this into Terminal, then press Return.

    ditto src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/PlantGPT.app /Applications/PlantGPT.app

    You know this worked when: PlantGPT.app is in your Applications folder

  9. Open PlantGPT

    Built on your own machine, so macOS opens it without any warning.

    Type this into Terminal, then press Return.

    open /Applications/PlantGPT.app

    You know this worked when: PlantGPT opens

  10. Say hello

    PlantGPT finds Ollama at localhost:11434 by itself. Ask anything — it streams locally.

    You know this worked when: A reply streams in

If something goes wrong

Nothing here can damage your computer, and every step can be run again safely. If a command fails, the usual cause is the step before it not having finished.

Still stuck? Tell us what happened and we will fix the guide. Include the step number and we can usually reproduce it.

Have a different setup?