# Setting up your own node
This guide provides the requisite knowledge necessary to quickly get started with installing a Gaia node. 

### Prerequisites
Before you get started, ensure that you have the following on your system:

| System | Minimum Requirements |
|---|---|
| OSX with Apple Silicon (M1-M4 chip) | 16GB RAM (32GB recommended) |
| Ubuntu Linux 20.04 with Nvidia CUDA 12 SDK | 8GB VRAM on GPU |
| Azure/AWS | Nvidia T4 GPU Instance |

Learn more about [system requirements](../system-requirements/).

**For Windows Users: Important Note on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)**
If you are using a Windows system, you **must** have [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install) installed and configured with an Ubuntu distribution. The installation commands for the Gaia node are Linux-based and require a Linux environment to run, which WSL provides on Windows.

### Installing the node

1.  Use the following command to download the latest version of the Gaia node:

```
curl -sSfL 'https://github.com/GaiaNet-AI/gaianet-node/releases/latest/download/install.sh' | bash
```

2.  Run the command printed on the terminal to set up the environment path, it is started with `source`.
![](/img/docs/quick-start.png)

3. Use the following command to initialize the Gaia node according to the configuration options 
in `$HOME/gaianet/config.json`.
By default, the Gaia is initialized with a [Llama 3.2](https://huggingface.co/meta-llama/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct) LLM. 
This command could take some time since it will download a very large LLM file.

```
gaianet init
```

4. Use the following command to start your node:

```
gaianet start
```

#### After starting your node

- A successful start prints a public URL for the node. Opening a browser to that URL will display the node information and allow you to chat with the AI agent on the node. 

```
... ... https://0xf63939431ee11267f4855a166e11cc44d24960c0.gaia.domains
```

- To stop the node: `gaianet stop`

## Video Guide

## Next steps

- [Customize](../customize) your node. Here are some knowledge bases you can try by customizing your node:
    - [Rust](https://huggingface.co/datasets/gaianet/learn-rust)
    - [Solidity](https://huggingface.co/datasets/harishkotra/solidity)
    - [Paris](https://huggingface.co/datasets/gaianet/paris)
    - [Vyper Lang Developer Docs](https://huggingface.co/datasets/meowy-ai/vyper-lang)
    - [Monad Developer Docs](https://huggingface.co/datasets/harishkotra/monad-docs)
    - [Web3 Knowledge Base](https://huggingface.co/datasets/meowy-ai/web3-knowledge-base)
- [Join the Gaia Protocol](../register) and join the Gaia protocol network to receive payments.
- [Ensure Node Reliability](../advanced-deployment-options/protect.md) the node server to ensure stable service.

---

## Joining the Gaia Protocol