Requirements

Software

The CLI requires Node.js. The worker agent is a standalone Go binary with no runtime dependencies.

Component	Requirement	Minimum	Recommended
CLI	Node.js	22+	Latest LTS
CLI	npm	10+	Latest
Worker agent	(none)	—	—
Both	Container runtime	Podman 4+ or Docker 24+	Podman 5+
Both	OS	macOS 13+, Windows 10+, Ubuntu 22.04+	Latest stable

The worker agent auto-detects Podman and Docker via PATH — install either one (or both).

Windows-specific

WSL2 is required for Podman on Windows
Run wsl --install if not already configured
The cropscode doctor command checks WSL status automatically

Hardware

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
RAM	4 GB free	8+ GB free
Disk	20 GB free	50+ GB free
CPU	2 cores	4+ cores

Container images are ~2-4 GB each. Running multiple containers simultaneously requires proportionally more resources.

Network

Requirement	Details
Direction	Outbound only — no inbound ports needed
Protocol	WebSocket (WSS on port 443)
Firewall	Must allow outbound HTTPS/WSS
NAT	Works behind NAT routers
Proxy	HTTP proxies supported via standard env vars

Workers connect outbound to the orchestrator. No port forwarding, no static IP, no DNS required on the worker side.

Container Runtime

Podman (recommended)

# macOS
brew install podman
podman machine init
podman machine start

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install podman

# Windows (requires WSL2)
winget install RedHat.Podman
podman machine init
podman machine start

Docker

Docker Desktop works but is not recommended for production workers due to licensing requirements. Podman is rootless and license-free.

Verify

Run the health check to verify all requirements:

cropscode doctor