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title Install
kicker get started
summary Install the summarize CLI and optional media dependencies.

Install

summarize ships as a single npm package and a Homebrew formula. The CLI works on its own. Chrome Browser mode also works without the local daemon; the daemon adds faster and broader media support.

Requirements

  • Node 24 or newer.
  • macOS, Linux, or Windows. Containers work too — see Notes below.
  • Optional: native ffmpeg, yt-dlp, tesseract for expanded media support.

CLI

npm (cross-platform)

npm i -g @steipete/summarize

Homebrew (macOS, Linux)

brew install summarize

The Homebrew formula lives in homebrew/core. If Homebrew isn't available, use the npm route.

Standalone macOS archives

The macOS archives on GitHub Releases contain standalone arm64 and x64 binaries. They require macOS 13 or newer and do not require Node.js.

npx (no install)

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://example.com"

Useful for one-shot summaries on a fresh machine.

Library use

If you want extraction without the CLI, install the trimmed library:

npm i @steipete/summarize-core
import { createLinkPreviewClient } from "@steipete/summarize-core/content";

Optional dependencies

These unlock media features but are not required for plain web pages.

Tool Required for
ffmpeg Faster extraction/transcoding and broader codecs than bundled WebAssembly
yt-dlp YouTube slide extraction and some remote media flows
tesseract OCR text on extracted slides via --slides-ocr
whisper.cpp (binary on PATH) Local audio transcription fallback after Groq and before other cloud APIs

macOS

brew install ffmpeg yt-dlp
brew install tesseract        # optional, for --slides-ocr
brew install whisper-cpp      # optional, local Whisper

Linux

sudo apt install ffmpeg yt-dlp tesseract-ocr
# whisper.cpp: build from source or fetch a binary release

Optional cloud transcription

Set any of these env vars to enable a cloud transcription path. summarize picks one automatically (Groq is preferred for speed when available).

export GROQ_API_KEY=...
export ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY=...
export GEMINI_API_KEY=...
export OPENAI_API_KEY=...
export FAL_KEY=...
export DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=...

If native ffmpeg/ffprobe are missing, summarize falls back to its bundled LGPL FFmpeg WebAssembly build. Native ffmpeg remains recommended for speed and broader codec/filter support. Automatic YouTube transcription can resolve Android VR direct audio without yt-dlp; explicit --youtube yt-dlp, diarization, and some slide/media flows still require it.

Set SUMMARIZE_DISABLE_FFMPEG_WASM=1 to disable the bundled fallback.

Provider keys

Set the keys for the providers you want to use. Most flows work with at least one; missing keys only block their respective --model namespaces.

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...
export GEMINI_API_KEY=...
export XAI_API_KEY=xai-...
export NVIDIA_API_KEY=nvapi-...
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=or-...
export Z_AI_API_KEY=...

Full list and routing details: LLM overview. For free OpenRouter models, run summarize refresh-free once after setting OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

Verify the install

summarize --version
summarize "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama" --extract --format md | head

Local Docs Preview

Build and preview the static docs site from the repo root with:

./scripts/docs-serve.sh

Use PORT=4001 ./scripts/docs-serve.sh to pick another port.

Notes (Windows / containers)

  • Windows native: summarize runs under Node 24. The daemon registers a Scheduled Task on first install.
  • Windows containers: summarize daemon install starts the daemon for the current container session but does not register a Scheduled Task. Chrome Daemon mode also needs the pending packaged Windows native-host executable; Direct and Browser modes remain available.
  • WSL2: treat as Linux. The daemon installs as a systemd user service if systemd is available; otherwise run summarize daemon run in a long-lived shell.

Next: head to Quickstart.