How to install PlantGPT on Windows

Before you start

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

1. 1

   Install Git

   Run the installer, then reopen PowerShell.

   Open installer ↗

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

2. 2

   Install Node LTS

   Run the LTS installer, then reopen PowerShell.

   Open download ↗

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

Install PlantGPT

1. 3

   Open PowerShell

   Keep it open beside this page.

   You know this worked when: PowerShell is open

2. 4

   Install Ollama

   Run the installer. Ollama starts itself and keeps serving on localhost.

   Download OllamaSetup.exe ↗

   You know this worked when: ollama --version prints a version

3. 5

   Get a chat model

   About 2 GB. Reopen PowerShell first if ollama is not recognised yet.

   Type this into PowerShell (not Command Prompt), then press Enter.

   Copy the command for step 5

   ollama pull qwen2.5:3b

   You know this worked when: The pull finishes with success

4. 6

   Install the C++ build tools

   Rust's Windows linker comes from here, not from Rust itself. Silent install, a few minutes.

   Type this into PowerShell (not Command Prompt), then press Enter.

   Copy the command for step 6

   winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools -e --source winget --override "--quiet --wait --norestart --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --includeRecommended"

   You know this worked when: The install finishes and the prompt returns

5. 7

   Install Rust

   Reopen PowerShell first so the build tools just installed are on PATH.

   Type this into PowerShell (not Command Prompt), then press Enter.

   Copy the command for step 7

   winget install --id Rustlang.Rustup -e --source winget

   You know this worked when: cargo --version prints a version

6. 8

   Get PlantGPT

   Type this into PowerShell (not Command Prompt), then press Enter. The first line moves you into the folder this step runs in, so it works in a window you have just opened.

   Copy the command for step 8

   cd ~
   if (-not (Test-Path plantgpt/.git)) {
   git clone https://github.com/Blueturboguy07/plantgpt.git
   }
   cd plantgpt
   $origin = git config --get remote.origin.url 2>$null
   if ($origin) { $origin = $origin -replace '^git@github\.com:', 'https://github.com/' -replace '\.git$', '' }
   $dirty = git status --porcelain 2>$null
   if ($origin -ne "https://github.com/Blueturboguy07/plantgpt" -or $dirty) {
     Write-Host "~/plantgpt already exists and is not a clean copy of this app's source. Move or rename that folder, then press Try again."
     exit 1
   }
   git checkout aa88206d9f902e438cdf00d4ba01e0c2b4154ea8

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

7. 9

   Build PlantGPT

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

   Type this into PowerShell (not Command Prompt), then press Enter. The first line moves you into the folder this step runs in, so it works in a window you have just opened.

   Copy the command for step 9

   cd ~/plantgpt
   npm.cmd install
   $env:Path = "$env:USERPROFILE\.cargo\bin;$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WinGet\Links;$env:Path"
   npm.cmd run tauri build -- --bundles nsis

   You know this worked when: The build finishes with an installer

8. 10

   Run the installer

   The command runs the installer PlantGPT just built, silently — nothing to click.

   Type this into PowerShell (not Command Prompt), then press Enter. The first line moves you into the folder this step runs in, so it works in a window you have just opened.

   Copy the command for step 10

   cd ~/plantgpt
   $setup = Get-ChildItem src-tauri\target\release\bundle\nsis -Filter *-setup.exe | Select-Object -First 1
   $installer = Start-Process -FilePath $setup.FullName -ArgumentList '/S' -PassThru
   $installer.WaitForExit()

   You know this worked when: The installer finishes

9. 11

   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.