Open Swarm at home — Install the native kernel.

0:00Your spare laptop can become a useful home for your household. Lists and calendars. Learning and study. Personal projects, media, and games. Open Swarm brings applications together, with an agent beside you when you want help.

0:15For an eight gigabyte laptop, start with the native kernel, its database, and an external model. Add the applications your family uses. You do not need to run a large language model on the laptop, or install a fleet of business applications.

0:29First, enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux, restart if requested, and install Docker Desktop. Select its Linux container backend. These checks confirm that the Docker engine and Compose are ready.

0:42The native kernel is published in GitHub Container Registry. Download the matching home installer from the written guide. If your package access requires it, sign in to the registry. The installer pulls the image and checks its source revision and architecture.

0:57Run the installer and choose an administrator password. It creates private configuration, starts the database, and initializes your account before opening the kernel. Persistent storage keeps your work across normal restarts. The default installation folder is O S H A L Home, inside your Windows user folder.

1:18When the kernel is ready, the installer opens your local sign-in page. Use the administrator name and password you just created. Each family member should have their own login, with access to the applications and shared resources you choose.

1:32Add your application catalog, then use the App Loader to preview and install selected packages and their dependencies. Start with Life for household organization, or Little Monsters for classes, lecture recordings, and study materials. Business applications are not activated by the home installer.

1:51Connect a supported model provider and choose your defaults. A local account runtime also supports the desktop app’s Push to swarm flow for Claude Code and other supported accounts. Sign in to the provider, push the connection, and verify it. Installing the kernel alone does not install that optional runtime.

2:09An administrator can provide an authorized shared connection. People can also use their own supported credentials. With the account runtime, a person’s own pushed login takes precedence over the shared default. Their private login is not handed to another family member. Provider permissions and account entitlements still apply.

2:28Your installation and its stored data live on your machine. A cloud model receives the context sent to it. A suitable local model on a larger computer is another option. Connect other devices through authenticated access to your installation, and keep each person’s permissions in place.

2:45Check status, stop, or start the installation with the same script. The restart commands preserve the database and files. Watch memory as you add apps and users, and back up the persistent data with your private configuration. Eight gigabytes is a small starting point; workload and concurrency determine how far it goes.

3:05Start with one useful result. A shared household list. A class ready for tomorrow. A project you can pick up from another device. Get the installer, exact commands, and account connection instructions at oswarm.ai.