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SETUP Mac

This document provides detailed setup instructions for Mac users to establish an environment for LLM engineering using Anaconda or an alternative Python virtual environment. It includes steps for cloning a repository, installing necessary software, setting up API keys, and creating a .env file for secure key storage. Users are encouraged to reach out for assistance if they encounter any issues during the setup process.

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Umair Amin
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32 views6 pages

SETUP Mac

This document provides detailed setup instructions for Mac users to establish an environment for LLM engineering using Anaconda or an alternative Python virtual environment. It includes steps for cloning a repository, installing necessary software, setting up API keys, and creating a .env file for secure key storage. Users are encouraged to reach out for assistance if they encounter any issues during the setup process.

Uploaded by

Umair Amin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LLM Engineering - Master AI and LLMs

Setup instructions for Mac


Welcome, Mac people!
I should confess up-front: setting up a powerful environment to work at the
forefront of AI is not as simple as I’d like. For most people these instructions will
go great; but in some cases, for whatever reason, you’ll hit a problem. Please
don’t hesitate to reach out - I am here to get you up and running quickly. There’s
nothing worse than feeling stuck. Message me, email me or LinkedIn message
me and I will unstick you quickly!
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddonner/
I use a platform called Anaconda to set up your environment. It’s a powerful
tool that builds a complete science environment. Anaconda ensures that you’re
working with the right version of Python and all your packages are compatible
with mine, even if our systems are completely different. It takes more time to
set up, and it uses more hard drive space (5+ GB) but it’s very reliable once its
working.
Having said that: if you have any problems with Anaconda, I’ve provided an
alternative approach. It’s faster and simpler and should have you running quickly,
with less of a guarantee around compatibility.

Before we begin
If you’re less familiar with using the Terminal, please review this excellent guide
for some details and exercises.
If you’re new to developing on your Mac, you may need to install XCode developer
tools. Here are instructions.
One “gotcha” to keep in mind: if you run anti-virus software, VPN or a Firewall,
it might interfere with installations or network access. Please temporarily disable
if you have problems.

Part 1: Clone the Repo


This gets you a local copy of the code on your box.
1. Install Git if not already installed (it will be in most cases)
• Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
• Type git --version If not installed, you’ll be prompted to install it
2. Navigate to your projects folder:
If you have a specific folder for projects, navigate to it using the cd command.
For example: cd ~/Documents/Projects

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If you don’t have a projects folder, you can create one:
mkdir ~/Documents/Projects
cd ~/Documents/Projects
3. Clone the repository:
Enter this in the terminal in the Projects folder:
git clone https://github.com/ed-donner/llm_engineering.git
This creates a new directory llm_engineering within your Projects folder and
downloads the code for the class. Do cd llm_engineering to go into it. This
llm_engineering directory is known as the “project root directory”.

Part 2: Install Anaconda environment


If this Part 2 gives you any problems, there is an alternative Part 2B below that
can be used instead.
1. Install Anaconda:
• Download Anaconda from https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/install/mac-
os/
• Double-click the downloaded file and follow the installation prompts. Note
that it takes up several GB and take a while to install, but it will be a
powerful platform for you to use in the future.
• After installing, you’ll need to open a fresh, new Terminal to be able to
use it (and you might even need to restart).
2. Set up the environment:
• Open a new Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
• Navigate to the “project root directory” using cd ~/Documents/Projects/llm_engineering
(replace this path as needed with the actual path to the llm_engineering
directory, your locally cloned version of the repo). Do ls and check you
can see subdirectories for each week of the course.
• Create the environment: conda env create -f environment.yml
• Wait for a few minutes for all packages to be installed - in some cases,
this can literally take 20-30 minutes if you’ve not used Anaconda before,
and even longer depending on your internet connection. Important stuff is
happening! If this runs for more than 1 hour 15 mins, or gives you other
problems, please go to Part 2B instead.
• You have now built an isolated, dedicated AI environment for engineering
LLMs, running vector datastores, and so much more! You now need to
activate it using this command: conda activate llms
You should see (llms) in your prompt, which indicates you’ve activated your
new environment.
3. Start Jupyter Lab:

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• In the Terminal window, from within the llm_engineering folder, type:
jupyter lab
. . . and Jupyter Lab should open up in a browser. If you’ve not seen Jupyter
Lab before, I’ll explain it in a moment! Now close the jupyter lab browser tab,
and close the Terminal, and move on to Part 3.

Part 2B - Alternative to Part 2 if Anaconda gives you trouble


1. Open a new Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
Run python --version to find out which python you’re on.
Ideally you’d be using a version of Python 3.11, so we’re completely in sync.
I believe Python 3.12 works also, but (as of Feb 2025) Python 3.13 does not yet
work as several Data Science dependencies are not yet ready for Python 3.13.
If you need to install Python or install another version, you can download it
here:
https://www.python.org/downloads/
2. Navigate to the “project root directory” using cd ~/Documents/Projects/llm_engineering
(replace this path with the actual path to the llm_engineering directory,
your locally cloned version of the repo). Do ls and check you can see
subdirectories for each week of the course.
Then, create a new virtual environment with this command:
python -m venv llms
3. Activate the virtual environment with
source llms/bin/activate You should see (llms) in your command
prompt, which is your sign that things are going well.
4. Run python -m pip install --upgrade pip followed by pip install
-r requirements.txt
This may take a few minutes to install. In the very unlikely event that
this doesn’t go well, you should try the bullet-proof (but slower) version:
pip install --retries 5 --timeout 15 --no-cache-dir --force-reinstall
-r requirements.txt
5. Start Jupyter Lab:
From within the llm_engineering folder, type: jupyter lab
. . . and Jupyter Lab should open up, ready for you to get started. Open the
week1 folder and double click on day1.ipynb. Success! Now close down jupyter
lab and move on to Part 3.
If there are any problems, contact me!

Part 3 - OpenAI key (OPTIONAL but recommended)


Particularly during weeks 1 and 2 of the course, you’ll be writing code to call
the APIs of Frontier models (models at the forefront of AI).

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For week 1, you’ll only need OpenAI, and you can add the others if you wish
later on.
1. Create an OpenAI account if you don’t have one by visiting:
https://platform.openai.com/
2. OpenAI asks for a minimum credit to use the API. For me in the US, it’s
$5. The API calls will spend against this $5. On this course, we’ll only
use a small portion of this. I do recommend you make the investment as
you’ll be able to put it to excellent use. But if you’d prefer not to pay for
the API, I give you an alternative in the course using Ollama.
You can add your credit balance to OpenAI at Settings > Billing:
https://platform.openai.com/settings/organization/billing/overview
I recommend you disable the automatic recharge!
3. Create your API key
The webpage where you set up your OpenAI key is at https://platform.openai.com/api-
keys - press the green ‘Create new secret key’ button and press ‘Create secret
key’. Keep a record of the API key somewhere private; you won’t be able to
retrieve it from the OpenAI screens in the future. It should start sk-proj-.
In week 2 we will also set up keys for Anthropic and Google, which you can do
here when we get there.
- Claude API at https://console.anthropic.com/ from Anthropic - Gemini API
at https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api from Google
Later in the course you’ll be using the fabulous HuggingFace platform; an account
is available for free at https://huggingface.co - you can create an API token from
the Avatar menu » Settings » Access Tokens.
And in Week 6/7 you’ll be using the terrific Weights & Biases at https://wandb.ai
to watch over your training batches. Accounts are also free, and you can set up
a token in a similar way.

PART 4 - .env file


When you have these keys, please create a new file called .env in your project
root directory. The filename needs to be exactly the four characters “.env” rather
than “my-keys.env” or “.env.txt”. Here’s how to do it:
1. Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
2. Navigate to the “project root directory” using cd ~/Documents/Projects/llm_engineering
(replace this path with the actual path to the llm_engineering directory,
your locally cloned version of the repo).
3. Create the .env file with
nano .env

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4. Then type your API keys into nano, replacing xxxx with your API key
(starting sk-proj-).
OPENAI_API_KEY=xxxx
If you have other keys, you can add them too, or come back to this in future
weeks:
GOOGLE_API_KEY=xxxx
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=xxxx
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=xxxx
HF_TOKEN=xxxx
5. Save the file:
Control + O
Enter (to confirm save the file)
Control + X to exit the editor
6. Use this command to list files in your project root directory:
ls -a
And confirm that the .env file is there.
This file won’t appear in Jupyter Lab because jupyter hides files starting with
a dot. This file is listed in the .gitignore file, so it won’t get checked in and
your keys stay safe.

Part 5 - Showtime!!
• Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
• Navigate to the “project root directory” using cd ~/Documents/Projects/llm_engineering
(replace this path with the actual path to the llm_engineering directory,
your locally cloned version of the repo). Do ls and check you can see
subdirectories for each week of the course.
• Activate your environment with conda activate llms (or source
llms/bin/activate if you used the alternative approach in Part 2B)
• You should see (llms) in your prompt which is your sign that all is well.
And now, type: jupyter lab and Jupyter Lab should open up, ready for
you to get started. Open the week1 folder and double click on day1.ipynb.
And you’re off to the races!
Note that any time you start jupyter lab in the future, you’ll need to follow
these Part 5 instructions to start it from within the llm_engineering directory
with the llms environment activated.
For those new to Jupyter Lab / Jupyter Notebook, it’s a delightful Data Science
environment where you can simply hit shift+return in any cell to run it; start

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at the top and work your way down! I’ve included a notebook called ‘Guide to
Jupyter’ that shows you more features. When we move to Google Colab in Week
3, you’ll experience the same interface for Python runtimes in the cloud.
If you have any problems, I’ve included a notebook in week1 called troubleshoot-
ing.ipynb to figure it out.
Please do message me or email me at [email protected] if this doesn’t work
or if I can help with anything. I can’t wait to hear how you get on.

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