> This page is for version 26.07 · v1.3.0. > For other versions, use one of these documentation indexes: > - Latest · v1.4.0 (26.09) (default): https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/latest/llms.txt > - Main · preview: https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/main/llms.txt > - 26.09 · v1.4.0: https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/v26.09/llms.txt > - 26.07 · v1.3.0: https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/v26.07/llms.txt > - 26.04 · v1.2.0: https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/v26.04/llms.txt > - 26.02 · v1.1.0: https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/v26.02/llms.txt > - 25.09 · v1.0.0: https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/v25.09/llms.txt > For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. > For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/llms.txt. > For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/_mcp/server. > Complete installation guide for NeMo Curator with system requirements, package extras, verification steps, and troubleshooting # Install (All Modalities) This guide covers installing NeMo Curator with support for **all modalities** and verifying your installation is working correctly. For a single-modality install or a 30-minute walkthrough, start with one of the [modality quickstarts](/get-started) instead. ## Before You Start ### System Requirements For comprehensive system requirements and production deployment specifications, refer to [Production Deployment Requirements](/admin/deployment/requirements). **Quick Start Requirements:** * **OS**: Ubuntu 24.04/22.04/20.04 (recommended) * **Python**: 3.11, 3.12, or 3.13 * **Memory**: 16GB+ RAM for basic text processing * **GPU** (optional): NVIDIA GPU with 16GB+ VRAM for acceleration * **CUDA 12** (required for `audio_cuda12`, `video_cuda12`, `image_cuda12`, and `text_cuda12` extras) > **Warning** > > **Python 3.10 support was removed in NeMo Curator 26.07.** 26.04 was the last release to support Python 3.10. Set up new environments on Python 3.11, 3.12, or 3.13. See the [26.07 migration checklist](/about/release-notes/26-07-migration#1-upgrade-python) for details. ### Development vs Production | Use Case | Requirements | See | | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | | **Local Development** | Minimum specs listed above | Continue below | | **Production Clusters** | Detailed hardware, network, storage specs | [Deployment Requirements](/admin/deployment/requirements) | | **Multi-node Setup** | Advanced infrastructure planning | [Deployment Options](/admin/deployment) | --- ## Installation Methods Choose one of the following installation methods based on your needs: > **Tip** > > **Docker is the recommended installation method** for video and audio workflows. The NeMo Curator container includes FFmpeg (with NVENC support) pre-configured, avoiding manual dependency setup. Refer to the [Container Installation](#container-installation) tab below. #### PyPI Installation Install NeMo Curator from the Python Package Index using `uv` for proper dependency resolution. 1. Install uv: ```bash curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/0.8.22/install.sh | sh source $HOME/.local/bin/env ``` 2. Create and activate a virtual environment: ```bash uv venv source .venv/bin/activate ``` 3. Install NeMo Curator: ```bash uv pip install torch wheel_stub psutil setuptools setuptools_scm echo "transformers==4.55.2" > override.txt uv pip install --no-build-isolation "nemo-curator[all]" --override override.txt ``` #### Source Installation Install the latest development version directly from GitHub: ```bash # Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA-NeMo/Curator.git cd Curator # Install uv if not already available curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh # Install with all extras using uv uv sync --all-extras --all-groups ``` #### Container Installation (Recommended for Video/Audio) NeMo Curator is available as a standalone container on NGC: [https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nvidia/containers/nemo-curator](https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nvidia/containers/nemo-curator). The container includes NeMo Curator with all dependencies pre-installed, including FFmpeg with NVENC support. ```bash # Pull the container from NGC docker pull nvcr.io/nvidia/nemo-curator:{{ container_version }} # Run the container with GPU support docker run --gpus all -it --rm nvcr.io/nvidia/nemo-curator:{{ container_version }} ``` > **Info** > > After entering the container, activate the virtual environment before running any NeMo Curator commands: > > source /opt/venv/env.sh > > The container uses a virtual environment at `/opt/venv`. If you see `No module named nemo_curator`, the environment has not been activated. Alternatively, you can build the NeMo Curator container locally using the provided Dockerfile: ```bash # Build the container locally git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA-NeMo/Curator.git cd Curator docker build -t nemo-curator:latest -f docker/Dockerfile . # Run the container with GPU support docker run --gpus all -it --rm nemo-curator:latest ``` **Benefits:** * Pre-configured environment with all dependencies (FFmpeg, CUDA libraries) * Consistent runtime across different systems * Ideal for production deployments ### Install FFmpeg and Encoders (Required for Video) Curator's video pipelines rely on `FFmpeg` for command-line decoding, encoding, and metadata extraction. The default container does not include system `ffmpeg`; install it only for video or audio workflows that need it. #### Debian/Ubuntu (Script) Use the maintained script in the repository to build and install a strict-allowlist `FFmpeg` with NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC and VP9 support. The default build excludes software H.264/HEVC/AV1 decoders and software H.264 encoders. * Script source: [docker/common/install\_ffmpeg.sh](https://github.com/NVIDIA-NeMo/Curator/blob/main/docker/common/install_ffmpeg.sh) ```bash curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NVIDIA-NeMo/Curator/main/docker/common/install_ffmpeg.sh -o install_ffmpeg.sh chmod +x install_ffmpeg.sh sudo bash install_ffmpeg.sh ``` #### Verify Installation Confirm that `FFmpeg` is on your `PATH` and that the expected encoders are available: ```bash ffmpeg -hide_banner -version | head -n 5 ffmpeg -encoders | grep -E "h264_nvenc|libvpx-vp9|libopenh264" | cat ``` If encoders are missing, reinstall `FFmpeg` with the required options or use the Debian/Ubuntu script above. `libopenh264` appears only after opting in with `install_h264_support.sh --with-libopenh264`. > **Note** > > **FFmpeg build requires CUDA toolkit (nvcc):** If you encounter `ERROR: failed checking for nvcc` during FFmpeg installation, ensure that the CUDA toolkit is installed and `nvcc` is available on your `PATH`. You can verify with `nvcc --version`. #### Software H.264/HEVC/AV1 Codec Support (Advanced) Curator's strict FFmpeg build routes H.264/HEVC/AV1 decode through NVDEC and excludes software H.264 encoders by default. You may need extra software codec support when CPU-only stages run `ffprobe` on H.264/HEVC/AV1 inputs, or when using `--transcode-encoder=libopenh264`. Inside a container, run: ```bash # Add software h264/hevc/av1 decoders only bash /opt/Curator/docker/common/install_h264_support.sh # Add those decoders plus the libopenh264 software h264 encoder bash /opt/Curator/docker/common/install_h264_support.sh --with-libopenh264 ``` > **Warning** > > With `--with-libopenh264`, the resulting FFmpeg binary links Cisco OpenH264. You are responsible for any license obligations imposed by the resulting binaries. --- ## Package Extras NeMo Curator provides several installation extras to install only the components you need: | Extra | Installation Command | Description | | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **text\_cpu** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[text_cpu]` | CPU-only text processing and filtering | | **text\_cuda12** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[text_cuda12]` | GPU-accelerated text processing with RAPIDS | | **audio\_cpu** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[audio_cpu]` | CPU-only audio curation with NeMo Toolkit ASR | | **audio\_cuda12** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[audio_cuda12]` | GPU-accelerated audio curation. When using `uv`, requires `transformers==4.55.2` override. | | **image\_cpu** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[image_cpu]` | CPU-only image processing | | **image\_cuda12** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[image_cuda12]` | GPU-accelerated image processing with NVIDIA DALI | | **video\_cpu** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[video_cpu]` | CPU-only video processing | | **video\_cuda12** | `uv pip install --no-build-isolation nemo-curator[video_cuda12]` | GPU-accelerated video processing with CUDA libraries. Requires FFmpeg and additional build dependencies when using `uv`. | | **inference\_server** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[inference_server]` | Ray Serve + vLLM for serving LLMs alongside curation pipelines | | **sdg\_cpu** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[sdg_cpu]` | CPU-only synthetic data generation with Data Designer | | **sdg\_cuda12** | `uv pip install nemo-curator[sdg_cuda12]` | GPU-accelerated synthetic data generation with local inference server support | > **Note** > > **Development Dependencies**: For development tools (pre-commit, ruff, pytest), use `uv sync --group dev --group linting --group test` instead of pip extras. Development dependencies are managed as dependency groups, not optional dependencies. > **Warning** > > **pip is not supported for installing all extras together.** Some optional dependencies have conflicting transitive version requirements (for example, `nemo-toolkit[asr]` and `vllm` require incompatible versions of `transformers`). NeMo Curator uses [uv dependency overrides](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/concepts/dependencies/#dependency-overrides) to resolve these conflicts, which pip does not support. If you must use pip, install only one modality extra at a time (for example, `pip install nemo-curator[text_cpu]`). For multi-modality installations, use `uv` or the [NeMo Curator container](#container-installation). --- ## Installation Verification After installation, verify that NeMo Curator is working correctly: ### 1. Basic Import Test ```python # Test basic imports import nemo_curator print(f"NeMo Curator version: {nemo_curator.__version__}") # Test core modules from nemo_curator.pipeline import Pipeline from nemo_curator.tasks import DocumentBatch print("✓ Core modules imported successfully") ``` ### 2. GPU Availability Check If you installed GPU support, verify GPU access: ```python # Check GPU availability try: import torch if torch.cuda.is_available(): print(f"✓ GPU available: {torch.cuda.get_device_name(0)}") print(f"✓ GPU memory: {torch.cuda.get_device_properties(0).total_memory / 1e9:.1f} GB") else: print("⚠ No GPU detected") # Check cuDF for GPU deduplication import cudf print("✓ cuDF available for GPU-accelerated deduplication") except ImportError as e: print(f"⚠ Some GPU modules not available: {e}") ``` ### 3. Run a Quickstart Tutorial Try a modality-specific quickstart to see NeMo Curator in action: * [Text Curation Quickstart](/get-started/text) - Set up and run your first text curation pipeline * [Audio Curation Quickstart](/get-started/audio) - Get started with audio dataset curation * [Image Curation Quickstart](/get-started/image) - Curate image-text datasets for generative models * [Video Curation Quickstart](/get-started/video) - Split, encode, and curate video clips at scale