Install the bench

2.1 Check the three things the bench needs

The bench is a set of programs that run in containers on your own computer. Containers are cheap, but they are not free: they want memory, disk and the right to install Docker.

Know before you start whether your laptop can run this, instead of finding out twenty minutes in.

1. Memory. 8 GB of RAM is the floor and it does work — the whole bench idles at about 1.2 GB, and the model adds roughly 2 GB while it is answering. 16 GB is comfortable.
2. Disk. Budget 15 GB. The apps are about 6 GB, the model that ships with the bench is 2 GB, and Docker keeps its own cache.
3. Rights. You must be able to install software. Docker needs administrator rights once, at install time. If your laptop is managed by an IT department that forbids that, stop here — the bench cannot be installed around it, and the honest answer is to ask them, or use a machine you own.

• You'll see A yes or a no to all three, before you have downloaded anything.
• Takeaway The bench asks for memory, disk and one administrator prompt. Everything else it brings itself.

2.2 Paste one line

That line downloads a small shell script and runs it. The script fetches heidelberg-ai-bench.zip, unpacks it into a folder called HeidelbergBench in your home directory, and starts the setup inside it.

Do this first Check the three things the bench needs

Get the bench onto your machine with a single command, without meeting a browser warning.

curl -fsSL https://curriculum.32dots.de/bench.sh | bash

in Terminal on a Mac. On Windows use the PowerShell line above — they are two spellings of the same thing.

1. Read it first if you like. Open https://curriculum.32dots.de/bench.sh in a browser. It is about a hundred lines and it does exactly what this lesson says.
2. Why not a download? Because a file your browser downloaded meets SmartScreen on Windows and Gatekeeper on a Mac, and clicking past those is where first-time installs die. If you prefer the folder anyway, https://curriculum.32dots.de/heidelberg-ai-bench.zip is the same content — unzip it and double-click HeidelbergBench.bat or HeidelbergBench.command.
3. Leave it alone. After the question in the next lesson, nothing needs you. About 6 GB comes down.

• You'll see Your browser opens at http://localhost:8080 with the bench dashboard, and a "Heidelberg AI Bench" icon appears on your desktop.
• Takeaway One line installs everything. It is pasted rather than downloaded so that no security warning stands between you and the start.

2.3 Answer the one question: where should the AI come from?

Every app on the bench asks one gateway for a model called default. That question decides what default is. It is the only setting the install asks you for, and you can change it later in one click.

Do this first Paste one line

Pick a provider on purpose rather than by pressing Enter, and know what each choice means for your data.

1. 1 — the model that comes with the bench. Press Enter. A 3-billion-parameter model (qwen2.5:3b) downloads once and then runs on your own machine, offline, free. It is small: good for summaries, extraction, drafting and learning the mechanics; it will not out-argue a frontier model.
2. 2 — LM Studio, here or on a lab machine. If you already run LM Studio, give its address. The setup asks it what models it serves and uses the first one, rather than guessing a name.
3. 3 and 4 — Requesty or EUrouter. Commercial routers that process inside the EU. You paste an API key and pay per token. This is the choice when you need a big model and your data must stay in Europe.
4. 5 — OpenRouter. The widest model selection, but it routes outside the EU unless you are on its enterprise plan. For university work with personal data, that is usually the deciding sentence.
5. 6 — anything else OpenAI-compatible. A base URL ending in /v1 and a key.

• You'll see The dashboard shows your choice under "Which AI answers" — for option 1, qwen2.5:3b · The model that comes with the bench.
• Takeaway One choice, in one place, for every app. Changing it later reconfigures nothing — the apps never knew which model they were talking to.
• Check You want the class to work with a document that must not leave the university. Which two options are still on the table?
• Cost Options 1 and 2 cost nothing. The routers charge the provider's token price plus a small markup; a seminar afternoon of chatting is cents, not euros.

2.4 The three moments that belong to your computer

Three prompts during the install come from your operating system or from Docker, not from the bench. They look like errors when nobody warns you about them, and they are the most common reason a student stops.

Do this first Paste one line

Recognise each one and answer it without thinking it has gone wrong.

1. The password prompt. Installing Docker needs administrator rights. On a Mac that is your login password; on Windows it is the blue "Do you want to allow this app to make changes" box. Nothing about the bench asks for a password — this one is your computer asking.
2. Docker's licence screen. The first time Docker Desktop opens it shows its own terms and waits. The install pauses there until you accept. The whale in the menu bar or system tray stops animating when Docker is genuinely ready.
3. One restart, on some Windows PCs. Docker sometimes needs Windows features that only switch on after a reboot. If you are asked to restart: do it, then start the same file again. Nothing is lost; the script picks up where it stopped.

• You'll see After the third one, the terminal keeps going on its own and finishes with the browser opening at localhost:8080.
• Takeaway Three prompts, none of them ours. A password, a licence, and sometimes a reboot.

2.5 The icon on your desktop, and how the bench keeps itself current

Setting up and starting are two different doors. The install put both on your machine, and using the wrong one is only slower, never harmful.

Do this first Paste one line

Start the bench every morning in one click, and understand how it updates.

1. Every morning: the desktop icon. "Heidelberg AI Bench" wakes Docker, starts your apps and opens the page. It asks nothing. Inside the folder it is Start the bench.bat or Start the bench.command.
2. To change the provider: the other one. HeidelbergBench.bat / HeidelbergBench.command runs the full setup again and asks the question from lesson 2. It rewrites configuration only — your n8n workflows, your AnythingLLM documents and your files stay where they are.
3. It updates itself. Both doors check the published version before anything else and re-download the kit when the course has shipped a newer one. That is why a fix reaches you without an announcement you have to read.
4. Your credentials survive. n8n encrypts saved credentials with a key that lives in your copy. A re-run keeps that key — verified on 2026-08-13 by running setup twice and comparing it. If it were regenerated, every credential you had saved would stop opening.

• You'll see The second run finishes in seconds rather than minutes: nothing to download, nothing to ask.
• Takeaway One icon to start, one file to reconfigure, and an update that happens without you.