Install the Server
YantrikDB Server is a multi-tenant network database for cognitive memory. It exposes the YantrikDB engine over a wire protocol and HTTP gateway, with built-in embeddings, replication, automatic failover, and at-rest encryption.
Three binaries
Section titled “Three binaries”| Binary | Purpose | Size |
|---|---|---|
yantrikdb | The server (data plane + cluster member) | ~22 MB |
yql | Interactive REPL client (like psql) | ~6 MB |
yantrikdb-witness | Vote-only daemon for 2-node failover | ~3 MB |
Install via Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
Section titled “Install via Homebrew (macOS / Linux)”brew tap yantrikos/tapbrew install yantrikdb # the serverbrew install yql # interactive REPL clientbrew install yantrikdb-witness # vote-only daemon for 2-node clustersHomebrew handles the ONNX Runtime dependency automatically (brew install onnxruntime is pulled in).
Install via Docker
Section titled “Install via Docker”Three pre-built multi-arch images on GitHub Container Registry:
# Server (full data node)docker pull ghcr.io/yantrikos/yantrikdb:latest
# Interactive clientdocker pull ghcr.io/yantrikos/yql:latest
# Witness daemon (vote-only, 2-node cluster tiebreaker)docker pull ghcr.io/yantrikos/yantrikdb-witness:latestRun a single-node server:
docker run -d \ --name yantrikdb \ -p 7437:7437 -p 7438:7438 \ -v yantrikdb-data:/var/lib/yantrikdb \ ghcr.io/yantrikos/yantrikdb:latestRun yql against it:
docker run --rm -it \ --network host \ ghcr.io/yantrikos/yql:latest \ --host localhost -p 7438 -t ydb_xxxxxxxx...For a full 3-node cluster, use the docker-compose.yml example in the repo.
Install via Cargo
Section titled “Install via Cargo”cargo install yantrikdb-servercargo install yqlcargo install yantrikdb-witnessThis builds from source against your local glibc — useful on older Linux distros where the pre-built binaries don’t run. Requires the Rust toolchain.
Download pre-built binaries
Section titled “Download pre-built binaries”# Linuxwget https://github.com/yantrikos/yantrikdb-server/releases/latest/download/yantrikdb-linux-amd64wget https://github.com/yantrikos/yantrikdb-server/releases/latest/download/yql-linux-amd64chmod +x yantrikdb-linux-amd64 yql-linux-amd64sudo mv yantrikdb-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/yantrikdbsudo mv yql-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/yqlOther platforms available on the releases page:
yantrikdb-windows-amd64.exeyantrikdb-macos-arm64(Apple Silicon)yantrikdb-macos-amd64(Intel)
Each binary is also published for yql and yantrikdb-witness.
Which method should I use?
Section titled “Which method should I use?”| Method | Best for |
|---|---|
| Homebrew | Mac developers — fastest, handles ONNX Runtime automatically |
| Docker | Reproducible deployments — isolated, multi-arch, easy to upgrade |
| Cargo | Older Linux distros, contributors, anyone with Rust installed |
| Pre-built binary | Servers with no package manager / no Rust toolchain |
ONNX Runtime requirement
Section titled “ONNX Runtime requirement”The server uses fastembed with the ONNX Runtime for built-in embeddings. You need ORT 1.23+ available at runtime:
# Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04+sudo apt-get install libonnxruntime1.21# Or download from Microsoft directly:wget https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime/releases/download/v1.24.4/onnxruntime-linux-x64-1.24.4.tgztar xzf onnxruntime-linux-x64-1.24.4.tgzsudo cp onnxruntime-linux-x64-1.24.4/lib/libonnxruntime*.so* /usr/local/lib/sudo ldconfigexport ORT_DYLIB_PATH=/usr/local/lib/libonnxruntime.so.1.24.4brew install onnxruntimeexport ORT_DYLIB_PATH=$(brew --prefix onnxruntime)/lib/libonnxruntime.dylibWindows
Section titled “Windows”Install ONNX Runtime via Microsoft’s release page and set ORT_DYLIB_PATH to onnxruntime.dll.
Skip embeddings (client-only mode)
Section titled “Skip embeddings (client-only mode)”If you don’t want server-side embedding (clients send pre-computed vectors):
[embedding]strategy = "client_only"Glibc requirement
Section titled “Glibc requirement”Linux binaries are built on Ubuntu (glibc 2.39). They run on:
- ✅ Debian 13 (trixie) and newer
- ✅ Ubuntu 22.04 and newer
- ✅ Fedora 38 and newer
- ❌ Debian 12 (bookworm) — glibc 2.36, too old
If you’re on an older distro, install from cargo install yantrikdb-server which builds against your local glibc.
Verify
Section titled “Verify”yantrikdb --helpyql --helpyantrikdb-witness --helpNext steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Quick Start — single-node setup in 60 seconds
- Cluster Deployment — replication + auto-failover
- yql REPL — interactive client