Installation

Requirements

npm install -g llm-checker

After installation completes, npm runs a postinstall script that prints:

LLM Checker installed. Run: llm-checker hw-detect

This is expected — it is just a reminder of the first command to run.

llm-checker --version

You should see the current version number (e.g. 3.5.6).

Three commands — sync, search, and smart-recommend — require an optional SQLite dependency. The core tool works without it.

npm install sql.js

Once installed, these commands become available:

Command	Description
`sync`	Download the latest model catalog from the Ollama registry
`search <query>`	Search models with filters and intelligent scoring
`smart-recommend`	Advanced recommendations using the full scoring engine

The GitHub Packages mirror (@pavelevich/llm-checker) may lag behind the npm release. Use the npm package for the latest version.

If you specifically need to install from GitHub Packages:

Configure the registry and token

You need a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) with read:packages scope.

echo "@pavelevich:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com" >> ~/.npmrc
echo "//npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=${GITHUB_TOKEN}" >> ~/.npmrc

Install the scoped package

npm install -g @pavelevich/llm-checker@latest

Switch back to npm if the version looks old

If the installed version is older than expected, migrate to the npm package:

npm uninstall -g @pavelevich/llm-checker
npm install -g llm-checker@latest
hash -r
llm-checker --version