Install

summarize ships as a single npm package and a Homebrew formula. The CLI works on its own. Chrome Browser mode also works without the local daemon; the daemon adds faster and broader media support.

#Requirements

Node 24 or newer.
macOS, Linux, or Windows. Containers work too — see Notes below.
Optional: native ffmpeg, yt-dlp, tesseract for expanded media support.

#CLI

#npm (cross-platform)

npm i -g @steipete/summarize

#Homebrew (macOS, Linux)

brew install summarize

The Homebrew formula lives in homebrew/core. If Homebrew isn't available, use the npm route.

#npx (no install)

npx -y @steipete/summarize "https://example.com"

Useful for one-shot summaries on a fresh machine.

#Library use

If you want extraction without the CLI, install the trimmed library:

npm i @steipete/summarize-core

import { createLinkPreviewClient } from "@steipete/summarize-core/content";

#Optional dependencies

These unlock media features but are not required for plain web pages.

Tool	Required for
`ffmpeg`	Faster extraction/transcoding and broader codecs than bundled WebAssembly
`yt-dlp`	YouTube slide extraction and some remote media flows
`tesseract`	OCR text on extracted slides via `--slides-ocr`
`whisper.cpp` (binary on PATH)	Local audio transcription fallback after Groq and before other cloud APIs

#macOS

brew install ffmpeg yt-dlp
brew install tesseract        # optional, for --slides-ocr
brew install whisper-cpp      # optional, local Whisper

#Linux

sudo apt install ffmpeg yt-dlp tesseract-ocr
# whisper.cpp: build from source or fetch a binary release

#Optional cloud transcription

Set any of these env vars to enable a cloud transcription path. summarize picks one automatically (Groq is preferred for speed when available).

export GROQ_API_KEY=...
export ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY=...
export GEMINI_API_KEY=...
export OPENAI_API_KEY=...
export FAL_KEY=...
export DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=...

If native ffmpeg/ffprobe are missing, summarize falls back to its bundled LGPL FFmpeg WebAssembly build. Native ffmpeg remains recommended for speed and broader codec/filter support. Automatic YouTube transcription can resolve Android VR direct audio without yt-dlp; explicit --youtube yt-dlp, diarization, and some slide/media flows still require it.

Set SUMMARIZE_DISABLE_FFMPEG_WASM=1 to disable the bundled fallback.

#Provider keys

Set the keys for the providers you want to use. Most flows work with at least one; missing keys only block their respective --model namespaces.

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...
export GEMINI_API_KEY=...
export XAI_API_KEY=xai-...
export NVIDIA_API_KEY=nvapi-...
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=or-...
export Z_AI_API_KEY=...
export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp-...   # for github-copilot/* models

Full list and routing details: LLM overview. For free OpenRouter models, run summarize refresh-free once after setting OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

#Verify the install

summarize --version
summarize "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama" --extract --format md | head

#Local Docs Preview

Build and preview the static docs site from the repo root with:

./scripts/docs-serve.sh

Use PORT=4001 ./scripts/docs-serve.sh to pick another port.

#Notes (Windows / containers)

Windows native: summarize runs under Node 24. The daemon registers a Scheduled Task on first install.
Windows containers: summarize daemon install starts the daemon for the current container session but does not register a Scheduled Task. Chrome Daemon mode also needs the pending packaged Windows native-host executable; Direct and Browser modes remain available.
WSL2: treat as Linux. The daemon installs as a systemd user service if systemd is available; otherwise run summarize daemon run in a long-lived shell.

Next: head to Quickstart.