From 65443cfffab90cde9ed95b4c9e1d03699ee27314 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jaret Burkett <jaretburkett@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:29:36 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Add information about the new manager to the README

---
 README.md       | 65 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 run_linux.sh    |  2 +-
 run_mac.zsh     |  2 +-
 run_windows.bat |  2 +-
 4 files changed, 54 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 178041c6..5ce450cf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -67,6 +67,57 @@ AI Toolkit is an easy to use all in one training suite for diffusion models. I t
 
 ## Installation
 
+### Install with the AI Toolkit Manager (experimental)
+
+The recommended way to install and run AI Toolkit is with the **AI Toolkit
+Manager**, built into this repo. The manager detects your hardware and sets up
+the right PyTorch build, creates the python environment, and grabs local copies
+of Node.js and FFmpeg — everything stays inside the ai-toolkit folder, nothing
+is installed system-wide. On every launch the manager checks for updates and
+applies them (your local changes are never overwritten — if you have modified
+files, the update is skipped with a warning), then starts the UI at
+`http://localhost:8675`.
+
+The manager is still **experimental** — please let me know if you have any
+issues with it. The manual instructions below still work if you prefer them
+or run into problems.
+
+The only requirement is **git** (on Windows the manager can even fetch a
+portable git for updates, but you need one installed to clone the repo first).
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/ostris/ai-toolkit.git
+cd ai-toolkit
+```
+
+Then start the manager with the script for your platform:
+
+Linux:
+```bash
+chmod +x run_linux.sh
+./run_linux.sh
+```
+
+MacOS (Apple Silicon, experimental):
+```bash
+chmod +x run_mac.zsh
+./run_mac.zsh
+```
+
+Windows: double-click `run_windows.bat` (or run it from a terminal).
+
+You can also use the manager directly from a terminal (handy on headless
+servers):
+
+```bash
+python3 -m manager install   # first-time setup
+python3 -m manager update    # pull updates + sync dependencies
+python3 -m manager launch    # start the UI
+python3 -m manager doctor    # diagnose problems
+```
+
+### Manual installation
+
 Requirements:
 - python >=3.10 (3.12 recommended)
 - Nvidia GPU with enough ram to do what you need
@@ -101,20 +152,6 @@ pip install --no-cache-dir torch==2.13.0 torchvision==0.28.0 torchaudio==2.11.0
 pip install -r requirements.txt
 ```
 
-MacOS:
-
-Experimental support for Silicon Macs is available. I do not have a Mac with enough RAM to fully test this
-so please let me know if there are issues. There is a convience script to install and run on MacOS 
-locates at `./run_mac.zsh` that will install the dependencies locally and run the UI. To run this, 
-do the following:
-
-```bash
-git clone https://github.com/ostris/ai-toolkit.git
-cd ai-toolkit
-chmod +x run_mac.zsh
-./run_mac.zsh
-```
-
 
 # AI Toolkit UI
 
diff --git a/run_linux.sh b/run_linux.sh
index 65ae0a16..fb379604 100755
--- a/run_linux.sh
+++ b/run_linux.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ cat << 'BANNER'
  /_/   \_\|___|   |_|   \___/  \___/|_||_|\_\|_| \__|
 BANNER
 printf '\033[0m'
-printf '\033[90m  Linux Setup & Launcher\033[0m\n'
+printf '\033[90m  AI Toolkit Manager — Linux\033[0m\n'
 echo ""
 
 # ── 1. Ensure uv (prebuilt static binary, kept inside the repo) ─────
diff --git a/run_mac.zsh b/run_mac.zsh
index d1514f6c..5025b38d 100755
--- a/run_mac.zsh
+++ b/run_mac.zsh
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ cat << 'BANNER'
  /_/   \_\|___|   |_|   \___/  \___/|_||_|\_\|_| \__|
 BANNER
 echo "\033[0m"
-echo "\033[90m  macOS Setup & Launcher\033[0m"
+echo "\033[90m  AI Toolkit Manager — macOS\033[0m"
 echo ""
 
 # ── 1. Ensure uv (prebuilt static binary, kept inside the repo) ─────
diff --git a/run_windows.bat b/run_windows.bat
index e63209d7..756bd017 100644
--- a/run_windows.bat
+++ b/run_windows.bat
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ echo    / _ \   ^| ^|    ^| ^|   / _ \  / _ \^| ^|^| ^|/ /^| ^|^| __^|
 echo   / ___ \  ^| ^|    ^| ^|  ^| (_) ^|^| (_) ^| ^|^|   ^< ^| ^|^| ^|_
 echo  /_/   \_\^|___^|   ^|_^|   \___/  \___/^|_^|^|_^|\_\^|_^| \__^|
 echo.
-echo   Windows Setup ^& Launcher
+echo   AI Toolkit Manager - Windows
 echo.
 
 REM Clear env vars that let a stray conda/pyenv/system Python hijack things