Installation

ell and ell studio are both contained within the ell-ai python package available on PyPI. You simply need to install the package and set up your API keys.

Installing ell

  1. Install using pip:

    pip install -U ell-ai[all]

    This installs ell, ell-studio, versioning and tracing with SQLite, and the default provider clients.

  2. Verify installation:

    python -c "import ell; print(ell.__version__)"

Custom Installation

You can create a custom ell installation with the following options.

Install ell without storage or ell-studio and with the default OpenAI client:

pip install -U ell-ai

Supported options:

anthropic

Adds the Anthropic client.

pip install -U ell-ai[anthropic]

groq

Adds the Groq client.

pip install -U ell-ai[groq]

studio

Adds ell-studio.

pip install -U ell-ai[studio]

sqlite

SQLite storage for versioning and tracing.

pip install -U ell-ai[sqlite]

postgres

Postgres storage for versioning and tracing.

Include this option if you’d like to use ell-studio with Postgres.

pip install -U ell-ai[postgres]

Combining options

All options are additive and can be combined as needed.

Example: Install ell with ell-studio, Postgres, and the Anthropic client:

pip install -U ell-ai[studio, postgres, anthropic]

API Key Setup

OpenAI API Key

  1. Get API key from https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys

  2. Install the OpenAI Python package:

    pip install openai

  3. Set environment variable:

    • Windows:

      setx OPENAI_API_KEY "your-openai-api-key"

    • macOS/Linux:

      # in your .bashrc or .zshrc
export OPENAI_API_KEY='your-openai-api-key'

Anthropic API Key

  1. Get API key from https://www.anthropic.com/

  2. Install the Anthropic Python package:

    pip install anthropic

  3. Set environment variable:

    • Windows:

      setx ANTHROPIC_API_KEY "your-anthropic-api-key"

    • macOS/Linux:

      # in your .bashrc or .zshrc
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY='your-anthropic-api-key'

Troubleshooting

  • Update pip: pip install --upgrade pip

  • Use virtual environment

  • Try pip3 instead of pip

  • Use sudo (Unix) or run as administrator (Windows) if permission errors occur

For more help, see the Troubleshooting section or file an issue on GitHub.

Next Steps

Proceed to the Getting Started guide to create your first Language Model Program.