Quick Perplexica setup on Mac

hosts

# /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 search.local

perplexica.sh

#!/bin/zsh

# This script installs and starts the Perplexica app on macOS using Docker and Ollama.
# I found the uncensored Llama model is way smarter and less annoying. Groq with Llama3.1 70B is also a beast.
# Tested on M1 Max.

set -euo pipefail

# Function to clean up background processes
cleanup() {
  echo "🧹 Cleaning up..."

  echo "🛑 Stopping Ollama server..."
  pkill -9 ollama Ollama

  echo "🛑 Stopping Docker-compose..."
  cd ~/Perplexica
  docker compose down

  exit 0
}

# Set up trap to catch Ctrl+C
trap cleanup INT

# Check for ollama
if ! command -v ollama &>/dev/null; then
  echo "🛠️ Ollama not found. Downloading and installing..."
  curl https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh
else
  echo "✅ Ollama is already installed."
fi

# Check for llama3.1 model
if ! ollama list | grep -q "rolandroland/llama3.1-uncensored"; then
  echo "🛠️ Llama 3.1 8B uncensored model not found. Downloading..."
  ollama pull rolandroland/llama3.1-uncensored
else
  echo "✅ Llama 3.1 8B uncensored model is already available."
fi

# Check for Perplexica directory
if [ ! -d ~/Perplexica ]; then
  echo "🛠️ Perplexica not found. Cloning from GitHub..."
  git clone https://github.com/ItzCrazyKns/Perplexica.git ~/Perplexica
else
  echo "✅ Perplexica directory already exists."
fi

# Run ollama serve in background
echo "🧠 Starting Ollama server..."
ollama serve &
while ! lsof -i :11434 >/dev/null 2>&1; do
  sleep 1
done
echo "🧠 Ollama server started"

# Change directory to Perplexica
cd ~/Perplexica

# Run docker compose
docker compose up -d &
echo "📡 Docker-compose started"

echo "✨ Perplexica available at: http://localhost:3000"
echo "Press Ctrl+C to stop all processes"

# Keep the script running until interrupted
while true; do
  sleep 1
done

search.local.conf

# /opt/homebrew/etc/nginx/servers/search.local.conf
# run brew services restart nginx after adding this, then you can use `search.local` in your browser!

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name search.local;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

You will need to set up your configuration file manually for Perplexica, see their docs.