Totem LLM

Your Mind Leads

A sovereign AI solution for consumer hardware. Keep your data private, run locally, stay in control.

🚀 Key Features

| Feature | Description | |---------|-------------| | Privacy First | All data stays on your machine. | | Consumer Hardware | Optimized for consumer-grade devices. | | Local & Cloud | Choose local models via Ollama or use cloud providers (OpenRouter). | | Easy Setup | One-line install with automatic dependency resolution. |

📋 About

Totem LLM is a sovereign AI solution, aimed at optimizing for consumer hardware and ensuring data privacy. It is designed to run efficiently on consumer-grade hardware, such as laptops and desktops, without the need for cloud-based processing. This allows users to have full control over their data and AI interactions, without relying on third-party services.

While local AI is the core focus, Totem LLM supports both local and cloud-based LLM providers, giving users the flexibility to choose based on their needs and preferences. The system is built with a modular architecture, allowing for easy integration of new features and providers over time.

⚙️ Requirements

Before installing Totem LLM, first install the below prerequisites:

• Node.js v18 or later
• Ollama (recommended for local models) OR
• OpenRouter API key (for cloud models)

🎯 Quick Start

1️⃣ Install the Package

Open your terminal and run:

npm install -g totem-llm

This automatically downloads Totem LLM and installs all dependencies (server, collector, frontend).

2️⃣ Start Totem LLM

totem-llm start

First run: Creates ~/totem-llm/ directory, migrates database, then launches services.

Access: Open http://localhost:8686 in your browser.

3️⃣ Optional: Install as Desktop App

In the browser UI, click the install icon in the address bar (or use your browser menu) to add Totem LLM to your desktop. This is a link to the web GUI, but with its own window and taskbar/dock icon for easy access.

📚 Command Reference

totem-llm start                 # Start server and collector
totem-llm --no-collector       # Start server only (skip document ingestion)
totem-llm --port=8080          # Use custom server port
totem-llm setup                # Run first-time setup without starting
totem-llm --help               # Show all available commands

Environment Variables

# Override default storage location (default: ~/totem-llm)
export TOTEM_STORAGE_DIR=/your/custom/path
totem-llm start

🛠️ Troubleshooting

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | npm not found (Windows) | Run npm.cmd instead of npm | | totem-llm command not found | Run npx.cmd totem-llm start or add npm global bin to PATH | | PowerShell script execution error | Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser once, then retry | | Alternative on Windows | Use Command Prompt (cmd.exe) instead of PowerShell |

🙏 Acknowledgments

Totem LLM is built on the foundation of AnythingLLM by Mintplex Labs. We are deeply grateful for their excellent work.

📄 License

Totem LLM is released under the MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

📞 Support

• 🐛 Report Issues → GitHub Issues
• 💬 Discussions → GitHub Discussions