System requirements
What your machine needs to run PathWise. The requirement depends on one choice: run the model locally, or connect one with your own key.
The CPU, RAM, and disk numbers await a measurement session against the packaged build. The networking section below is confirmed against the source.
Two profiles
Your hardware needs change a lot based on where the reasoning model runs. Read the reasoning engine first if you have not chosen.
Engine only, bring your own model
PathWise sends its thinking to a frontier model over your own key, so your machine only runs the engine and its probes. This is the lighter profile.
Confirm the minimum CPU, RAM, and disk for the engine container alone.
Engine plus a local model
PathWise runs the model on your own machine with no key. This keeps the reasoning step private, but the model needs real memory and disk. This is the heavier profile. The configured local default is llama3.1:8b through Ollama.
Confirm the RAM and disk the local model needs on top of the engine, measured with the pulled Ollama artifact. This is the number most likely to surprise a buyer.
Docker and operating system
PathWise ships as a Docker image, so you need Docker installed. The engine and its runtime live inside the image, so you do not install anything else by hand. Today PathWise runs on Linux and Apple Silicon Macs. A Windows version is on the way and is not supported yet.
The minimum Docker version, the tested operating systems, and the released image architectures come from the release build records, not the source. Linux with host networking is the recommended deployment. Macs run the bridge variant.
Network permissions for probes
PathWise runs network checks like ping, traceroute, and DNS lookups. Ping needs one host-level setting to work inside a container. Without it, ping fails on an otherwise healthy install, and the boot log reports it under ping capability:.
On a Linux host-mode install, run these two commands once before starting PathWise:
echo 'net.ipv4.ping_group_range = 1000 1000' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-pathwise-ping.conf
sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-pathwise-ping.confUse network_mode: host for the real LAN vantage. The container drops all capabilities, adds back NET_RAW, and runs with no-new-privileges:true. Traceroute uses UDP and needs no extra capability. DNS lookups need normal outbound UDP and TCP access to the selected resolver.
On a Mac, use the bridge compose file. It sets the ping sysctl inside the container's own network namespace, so no host command is needed. Its probes see the Docker bridge rather than your LAN, so results reflect the container's vantage, not a user's machine.