System Requirements
Minimum requirements
- CPU: 2 cores, 64-bit (x86_64/amd64 or arm64)
- RAM: 4 GB (8 GB recommended; 16 GB+ for local AI models)
- Storage: 20 GB free disk space (more for media and model weights)
- Architecture: amd64 or arm64
Platform support
| Platform | Role | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Linux server | Primary deployment target | Docker Engine + Compose plugin |
| macOS | Desktop app | Docker Desktop or Colima, macOS 12+ |
| Windows | Desktop app | Docker Desktop or Docker Engine in WSL2, Windows 10/11 (x64 or ARM64) |
| Linux desktop | Desktop app or CLI | Docker Engine or Docker Desktop |
Docker backends
Hub does not require Docker Desktop. Docker Desktop needs a paid subscription for organizations with more than 250 employees or more than $10M in annual revenue, so every platform also has a licensing-free option:
| Platform | Docker Desktop | Licensing-free alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Supported | Docker Engine inside WSL2 |
| macOS | Supported | Colima (Docker Engine in a lightweight VM) |
| Linux | Supported | Docker Engine (already licensing-free) |
Hub can install the alternative for you — the Docker step of the setup wizard offers Auto-Install Docker Engine in WSL2 on Windows, and the equivalent Colima install on macOS.
Windows
Either backend works, and WSL2 is usually involved either way: Docker Desktop defaults to its WSL2 backend, and Hub installs it that way. Docker Desktop’s Hyper-V backend (Windows Pro and Enterprise) is also supported.
- Docker Desktop — install it, start it, and Hub detects it automatically.
- Docker Engine in WSL2 — Hub provisions an Ubuntu WSL2 distro, installs the open-source Docker Engine inside it, exposes the daemon on
127.0.0.1:2375, and selects it through awsl-engineDocker context. No Docker Desktop license required.
If WSL has to be enabled during setup, restart Windows before reopening Hub.
Hub detects Docker by running docker.exe on the Windows side. A Docker CLI
installed only inside a WSL distro, with nothing exposed to Windows, will not
be detected — use Hub’s WSL2 installer, or expose the in-distro daemon through
a Windows Docker context yourself.
Linux server distributions
| Distribution | Status |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.04 | Primary target (Companion appliances, CI-OS) |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | Actively supported |
| Other Linux | May work; not in our primary test matrix |
The Hub backend always runs in Docker. macOS and Windows are supported via the desktop app, not as bare-metal server hosts.
Software requirements
- Docker — Docker Desktop or Docker Engine (see Docker backends for the licensing-free options on each platform). Install Docker is the step-by-step walkthrough.
- Docker Compose plugin — Verify with
docker compose version - Ollama — Download Ollama — required for local AI models
Optional:
- NVIDIA drivers + Container Toolkit — For CUDA GPU acceleration
- ROCm — For AMD GPU acceleration on Linux
Network requirements
- Outbound internet for pulling Docker images and App Store catalog
- Port 80/443 on the host for Traefik (local LAN access)
- No inbound ports required for CI Account pairing or Tailscale
Not supported
- 32-bit systems
- Windows containers — Hub runs Linux containers only
- Bare-metal Windows or macOS as a server host — use the desktop app instead
Companion hardware
Companion Intelligence sells purpose-built hardware pre-loaded with Hub. See ci.computer for current devices and Core Server Quick Start for headless setup.