Install the NeMo Guardrails Library#

Follow these steps to install the NeMo Guardrails library.

Requirements#

Verify your system meets the following requirements before installation.

Requirement	Details
Python	3.10, 3.11, 3.12, or 3.13
Hardware	The NeMo Guardrails library processes run on CPUs and don’t require GPUs. LLMs that you want to use with NeMo Guardrails must be deployed separately to your own GPUs.

Quick Start#

Use the following steps to install the NeMo Guardrails library in a virtual environment.

Create and activate a virtual environment:

Linux/macOS

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Windows

python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate

Install the package:
```
pip install nemoguardrails
```

For OpenAI integration, install with extras and set your API key:

pip install nemoguardrails[openai]
export OPENAI_API_KEY=<your-key>

Install from Source#

To use the latest development version:

git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA/NeMo-Guardrails.git
cd NeMo-Guardrails
pip install -e .

Extra Dependencies#

Install optional packages based on your needs:

Extra	Description
`openai`	OpenAI integration
`eval`	Evaluation tools
`sdd`	Sensitive data detection using Presidio
`dev`	Developer features like autoreload
`all`	All optional packages

pip install nemoguardrails[openai]     # Single extra
pip install nemoguardrails[eval,sdd]   # Multiple extras
pip install nemoguardrails[all]        # Everything

Note

If dependency resolution fails with [all], add constraints: pip install "nemoguardrails[all]" "pandas>=1.4.0,<3"

Some features like AlignScore have additional requirements. Check the feature documentation for details.

Docker#

You can run the NeMo Guardrails library in a Docker container. For containerized deployment, see NeMo Guardrails with Docker.

Troubleshooting#

Use the following information to resolve common installation issues.

C++ Runtime Errors#

The library uses annoy, which requires a C++ compiler. If installation fails:

Linux/macOS

apt-get install gcc g++ python3-dev

Windows

Install Microsoft C++ Build Tools (version 14.0 or greater).