AI Tools Guide

AI tools have become an integral part of the modern development workflow — from terminal-based coding agents and intelligent IDEs to locally-run language models and image generators. This guide covers how to install and use the most popular AI tools on Debian.

AI Editors / IDEs

Code editors with built-in AI capabilities for intelligent completion, conversational programming, and code refactoring.

Tool	Description	Open Source	Installation
Cursor	VS Code-based AI editor with built-in assistant	No	.deb / AppImage
Windsurf	AI Agent IDE by Codeium	No	APT repository
Zed	High-performance Rust editor with LLM integration	Yes	Install script

AI Coding Assistants (CLI)

Terminal-based AI coding tools for command-line workflows.

Tool	Description	Open Source	Installation
Claude Code	Anthropic's official terminal AI coding tool	No	Install script / npm
Aider	AI pair programming CLI, multi-model support	Yes	pip
OpenCode	Open-source terminal AI coding agent	Yes	Install script / npm
Cline	VS Code autonomous coding agent (5M+ users)	Yes	VS Code extension
Continue	Open-source AI code assistant (26K+ Stars)	Yes	VS Code / JetBrains / CLI
GitHub Copilot	GitHub's official AI coding assistant	No	gh CLI extension
Gemini CLI	Google's open-source CLI AI tool, free for personal use	Yes	npm

Local LLM Runners

Run large language models locally for privacy and offline use.

Tool	Description	Installation
Ollama	Most popular local LLM runner with model registry	Install script
LM Studio	GUI application for discovering and running LLMs	AppImage
llama.cpp	High-performance C++ LLM inference engine	Build from source
llamafile	Single-file portable LLM, zero dependencies	Download and run
Jan	Privacy-first local AI chat application	AppImage / .deb
LocalAI	OpenAI API-compatible local inference server	Docker

AI Image & Speech

Locally-run AI image generation and speech recognition tools.

Tool	Description	Installation
Stable Diffusion WebUI	Most popular AI image generation interface	Git + Python
ComfyUI	Node-based AI image generation UI	Python
OpenAI Whisper	Speech recognition and transcription	pip

AI Platforms & Automation

Visual AI application builders and workflow automation tools.

Tool	Description	Installation
Dify	LLM app development platform with visual workflow + RAG	Docker
n8n	Workflow automation platform, 400+ app integrations	Docker / npm
OpenClaw	Self-hosted AI agent platform	Install script

Common Prerequisites

Many AI tools share common dependencies. Install these before proceeding with individual guides.

Node.js

Required for Claude Code, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, and other tools.

# Install Node.js 22.x LTS (via NodeSource)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

# Verify
node --version
npm --version

Python

Required for Aider, Whisper, Stable Diffusion, and other ML tools.

# Debian 13 includes Python 3 by default
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv

Docker

Recommended for Dify, n8n, LocalAI, and other platforms.

sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose-plugin
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Log out and back in for changes to take effect

NVIDIA GPU Drivers

Optional but recommended for local LLMs and image generation.

# Install NVIDIA drivers
sudo apt install nvidia-driver

# Verify after reboot
nvidia-smi

TIP

Not all tools require a GPU. Ollama, llama.cpp, and others can run in CPU-only mode — just slower.

Related Resources

1. Development Tools — Application installation on Debian
2. Docker Guide — Docker installation and usage
3. Command Line Basics — Getting comfortable with the terminal

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