getting started with solo-silo

try the demo

explore a read-only demo with pre-indexed celebrity photos at solo-silo.vercel.app:

• ✅ browse face clusters (bowie, abdul, walken, dončić, tito)
• ✅ view detection statistics and processing logs
• ✅ see the full ui in action
• ❌ search disabled (requires local ai models)
• ❌ read-only (no modifications)

installation

prerequisites

• git installed on your system
• node.js (v16 or higher)
• python (v3.8 or higher)
• ~2gb free disk space for ai models
• sufficient storage for your photo library

clone the repository

to use solo-silo with your photos, clone the local branch:

git clone -b local https://github.com/ilovespectra/solo-silo
cd solo-silo

automatic setup

the start-all.sh script handles all dependency installation and deployment:

./start-all.sh

this script will:

1. install node.js dependencies
2. install python dependencies
3. download ai models on first run (~2gb)
4. start the backend server
5. start the frontend application
6. open your browser automatically

first run

on first launch, ai models will be downloaded automatically:

• clip models for semantic search
• deepface models for face recognition
• yolo models for object detection
• easyocr for text extraction
• whisper for audio transcription

this is a one-time process that may take several minutes depending on your internet speed.

initial setup wizard

when you first open solo-silo, you'll be greeted with a getting started tour that walks you through:

1. understanding the interface
2. adding your first source
3. configuring indexing settings
4. viewing indexing progress