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Getting started

Bazilion ships as an npm package that bundles the CLI, daemon, and production web UI. The daemon self-bootstraps its workspace on first run — there is no separate init step.

  • Node.js 24+ — the published CLI requires it.
  • A model provider — an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google, a ChatGPT account for OAuth, or a local backend (Ollama / LM Studio).

The fastest path is the one-line installer:

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://bazilion.com/install.sh | bash
bazilion dashboard

On Windows PowerShell:

Terminal window
irm https://bazilion.com/install.ps1 | iex
bazilion dashboard

Already have Node 24+? Use npm directly:

Terminal window
npm install -g bazilion
bazilion dashboard

On first boot bazilion dashboard:

  • creates ~/.bazilion/ (profiles, agents, teams, skills, logs),
  • opens the SQLite database and applies the clean-install schema,
  • mints a bootstrap token, stores its row, and writes it to ~/.bazilion/auth.json,
  • on later starts, requires the database and auth file to be present together and the bootstrap token to match its active database row,
  • binds the HTTP API on 127.0.0.1:4321,
  • opens the bundled web UI on http://127.0.0.1:4322.
Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/rullopat/bazilion
cd bazilion
npm install -g pnpm # if pnpm is missing
pnpm install
# Start the source daemon, then run the web UI in another terminal.
pnpm tsx apps/cli/src/index.ts serve
cd apps/web && pnpm dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:4322. On a clean install, log in with the bootstrap token — the token value in ~/.bazilion/auth.json, written on first bazilion dashboard or bazilion serve. It is accepted by browser login only until provider setup is complete. Bazilion exchanges it for an internal expiring device identity and a bounded browser session; the bootstrap bearer is never retained in browser cookies.

The guided first-run path then takes you through three steps:

  1. Search or browse configured, recommended, local, and additional providers.
  2. Add credentials or a local endpoint, enable the provider, and save at least one model. A connection test sends a real model request, so the provider may charge its normal token cost.
  3. Crossing the setup threshold seeds the default Agent template and default Team, then offers a direct action to spawn the first Agent.

After setup, the first-run browser session remains valid until its normal expiry. Subsequent browser logins and native pairing use separately named, expiring device credentials rather than the bootstrap token.

For ChatGPT OAuth, the normal CLI flow opens a browser and receives its callback on local port 1455. Use device-code login when the browser is remote or that callback is unavailable:

Terminal window
bazilion auth openai login --device-code
# Source checkout: run from the Bazilion repository root.
pnpm tsx apps/cli/src/index.ts auth openai login --device-code

See The web interface for a full tour of the UI.

0.20.0 changes the schema (it adds the publications table), so a 0.19.x home cannot be upgraded in place. The same was true of earlier releases: Back up and export work using your current release first.** Older-schema homes and backups cannot migrate in place. A reset is destructive; review what it removes before choosing a fresh setup.

Stop the running dashboard (Ctrl+C in its terminal), or stop your managed daemon and web services. For an npm installation:

Terminal window
npm install -g bazilion@0.20.0
bazilion --version
bazilion dashboard

If you run managed services, restart them through your service manager instead of starting a second dashboard. For an older home, startup will stop with incompatible-schema guidance. After preserving needed work, follow the explicit reset procedure below or choose a new empty BAZILION_HOME. Retain the original home with its matching release for recovery.

To use Astra, follow Select GPT-6 Astra. If you also change Node versions, reinstall native dependencies using the same runtime that starts Bazilion.

Bazilion’s alpha database is clean-install-only. Bazilion checks the exact schema and the database/bootstrap identity pair before background work or the HTTP listener starts. If startup reports an incompatible or mismatched home, back up the complete ~/.bazilion directory first, then reset and bootstrap it:

Terminal window
bazilion uninstall --yes
bazilion dashboard

The standard reset removes the database, auth.json, Agent templates, Agents, and Teams while preserving logs and installed skills. Linked Team targets are never deleted. Add --all only for an intentional full wipe.

When developing from source, run this from the Bazilion repository root after changing Node versions, using the same Node runtime that starts Bazilion:

Terminal window
pnpm rebuild better-sqlite3

The web sidebar can spawn from the default Agent template. From the CLI:

Terminal window
bazilion agent spawn --profile default --name first --team default
bazilion agent chat <agent-id>