From Zero to AI Workforce in 5 Minutes — Markus Installation Guide

From Zero to AI Workforce in 5 Minutes — Markus Installation Guide Every AI agent platform promises the moon. But when you actually try to set one up, you hit the same wall: Docker required. PostgreSQL required. Go compiler required. You spend an afternoon installing dependencies, debugging connection errors, and reading through outdated setup guides. Three hours of dependency hell later, you still don't have a single agent running — and you haven't even started on the thing you actually wanted to build. It doesn't have to be this way. Markus v0.6.7 is built on a radically different philosophy: zero config, zero compromise. Install one command, create zero Docker containers, configure zero databases — and an entire AI workforce is running on your machine in under five minutes. Developers, researchers, writers, analysts, reviewers — a complete digital organization, ready to take orders in plain English. No containers to pull. No PostgreSQL to tune. No Go compilers to install. Just Node.js 22+ (which ships node:sqlite natively), pnpm 9+, and a terminal you already have open. This guide walks through the exact steps — from a fresh terminal to a functioning AI team that takes orders in natural language and delivers finished work. Installation: 3 Minutes Open a terminal and run either command: # Option A — One-line install script (recommended) curl -fsSL https://markus.global/install.sh | bash # Option B — npm global install npm install -g @markus-global/cli The install script handles everything: downloading the correct binary for your platform, setting up the directory structure, and registering the markus CLI command. Once installed, launch the platform: markus start You'll see the API server boot up on port 8056 and the Web UI on port 8057. Open your browser to http://localhost:8056. First login credentials: Field Value Email admin@markus.local Password markus123 On first login, the onboarding wizard walks you through setting your real name, email, and a new password. That's it — your AI workforce is installed and running. Want to build from source? Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/markus-global/markus.git && cd markus && pnpm install && pnpm build && pnpm run dev The Secret to One-Command Deploy How does Markus pull this off when every other platform needs a stack of infrastructure? Three design decisions make it possible. 1. SQLite — No PostgreSQL Required Most agent platforms assume PostgreSQL from day one. Their documentation opens with "Install PostgreSQL 15+," followed by a page of setup commands. If you are a solo developer or a small team, this is instant friction — you are now a database administrator before you have hired your first AI agent. Markus uses SQLite as its default database, backed by Node.js's native node:sqlite adapter available in Node.js 22+. There is zero database setup. No daemon. No port. No user. No password. No pg_hba.conf to edit. Why SQLite…