Document and preflight all dependencies

- README: explicit install commands for Ollama (macOS/Linux/Windows) and Python
  3.12 per OS; note curl as a run.sh dependency
- setup.sh / setup.ps1: preflight checks that Ollama is installed and reachable
  (with install hints if missing); setup.sh also warns if curl is absent

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

README.md

@@ -41,10 +41,17 @@ Python 3.9+. LiteLLM (the backend proxy) needs a small venv.
 
 ## Requirements
 
-- [Ollama](https://ollama.com) running locally with some models pulled
-- **Python 3.12** (for the LiteLLM venv). macOS: `brew install python@3.12`.
-  Linux: your distro's `python3.12`.
-- The pre-router itself only needs any Python 3.9+.
+- **[Ollama](https://ollama.com)** — the model backend. Install:
+  - macOS: `brew install ollama` (or the app from [ollama.com/download](https://ollama.com/download))
+  - Linux: `curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh`
+  - Windows: `winget install Ollama.Ollama`
+- **Python 3.12** — for the LiteLLM venv:
+  - macOS: `brew install python@3.12` · Linux: distro `python3.12` · Windows: `winget install Python.Python.3.12`
+  - The pre-router itself needs only any Python 3.9+.
+- **curl** — used by `run.sh` for health checks (standard on macOS/Linux).
+
+`./scripts/setup.*` checks Python **and** Ollama for you and installs the Python
+deps; `./scripts/pull-models.*` fetches the model fleet.
 
 ## Quickstart
 

scripts/setup.ps1

@@ -31,6 +31,20 @@ $vpy = ".\.venv\Scripts\python.exe"
 & $vpy -m pip install -q -r requirements.txt
 & $vpy -c "import litellm, PIL; print('>> deps OK (litellm, pillow)')"
 
+# preflight: Ollama (the model backend)
+if (Get-Command ollama -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
+    Write-Host ">> ollama: $((ollama --version 2>$null | Select-Object -First 1))"
+    $base = if ($env:ROUTER_OLLAMA) { $env:ROUTER_OLLAMA } else { "http://127.0.0.1:11434" }
+    try {
+        Invoke-WebRequest "$base/api/version" -TimeoutSec 3 -UseBasicParsing | Out-Null
+        Write-Host ">> ollama server: reachable"
+    } catch {
+        Write-Host "!! ollama installed but not responding — start the Ollama app first."
+    }
+} else {
+    Write-Host "!! ollama NOT installed (required backend). Install:  winget install Ollama.Ollama"
+}
+
 Write-Host ""
 Write-Host "Next:"
 Write-Host "  .\scripts\pull-models.ps1    # pull a model fleet (edit the list first)"

scripts/setup.sh

@@ -17,6 +17,21 @@ echo ">> using $($PY --version) at $(command -v "$PY" 2>/dev/null || echo "$PY")
 .venv/bin/pip install -q --upgrade pip
 .venv/bin/pip install -q -r requirements.txt
 .venv/bin/python -c "import litellm, PIL" && echo ">> deps OK (litellm, pillow)"
+
+# preflight: Ollama (the model backend)
+if command -v ollama >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo ">> ollama: $(ollama --version 2>/dev/null | head -1)"
+  if .venv/bin/python -c "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('${ROUTER_OLLAMA:-http://127.0.0.1:11434}/api/version', timeout=3)" 2>/dev/null; then
+    echo ">> ollama server: reachable ($(ollama list 2>/dev/null | tail -n +2 | grep -c .) models pulled)"
+  else
+    echo "!! ollama installed but not responding — start it:  (macOS) open -a Ollama   (Linux) ollama serve"
+  fi
+else
+  echo "!! ollama NOT installed (required backend). Install:"
+  echo "     macOS: brew install ollama     Linux: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh"
+fi
+command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1 || echo "!! curl not found — run.sh uses it for health checks; install curl."
+
 echo ""
 echo "Next:"
 echo "  ./scripts/pull-models.sh   # pull a model fleet (edit the list first)"