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Installation

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.13 or later
  • Node.js 20 (for building the frontend, optional)
  • Docker (for containerized deployment, optional)

Option 1: Install from PyPI

The fastest way to get started:

pip install malwar

Then initialize the database and configure your environment:

# Initialize the database
malwar db init

# Set your Anthropic API key (required for LLM analysis)
export MALWAR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key-here

# Run a scan
malwar scan path/to/SKILL.md

Option 2: Install from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Ap6pack/malwar.git
cd malwar

# Install the package
pip install .

# Or install with development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Initialize the Database

malwar db init

This creates the SQLite database (default: malwar.db in the current directory), applies the schema, and inserts seed data including the ClawHavoc campaign intelligence.

Configure Environment

Copy the example environment file and fill in your values:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

# Required for LLM analysis (Layer 3)
MALWAR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key-here

# Recommended: Set API authentication keys
MALWAR_API_KEYS=your-secret-key-1,your-secret-key-2

# Optional: Customize database location
MALWAR_DB_PATH=/var/lib/malwar/malwar.db

Build the Frontend (Optional)

If you want the web dashboard:

cd web
npm ci
npm run build
cd ..

The compiled frontend assets in web/dist/ are automatically served by the API server.

Option 3: Docker

The simplest deployment method:

# Create .env with your configuration
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your API keys

# Build and start
docker compose up -d

The API server and web dashboard are available at http://localhost:8000.

Using Docker Directly

# Build the image
docker build -t malwar .

# Run the container
docker run -d \
  --name malwar \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -v malwar-data:/app/data \
  -e MALWAR_API_KEYS="your-secret-key" \
  -e MALWAR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-your-key" \
  malwar

The multi-stage Dockerfile builds both the React frontend (Node.js) and the Python backend.

Option 4: Kubernetes

Install with Helm:

helm install malwar deploy/helm/malwar/ \
  --set malwar.apiKeys[0]=your-secret-api-key \
  --set malwar.anthropicApiKey=sk-ant-your-key-here

See the full Kubernetes Deployment Guide for detailed configuration.

Verify Installation

After installing, verify everything works:

# Check the version
malwar version

# Initialize the database (if not already done)
malwar db init

# Run a quick scan
malwar scan path/to/SKILL.md

# Start the API server
malwar serve

Next Steps