---
title: Local (docker compose)
description: Setup the Denser Retriever Requirements on a local host.
---

<Callout type="warn">
This setup is not suitable for production use as the data is not persistent and environment variables are not kept secret.
</Callout>

Elasticsearch and Milvus are required to run the Denser Retriever. They support the keyword search and vector search respectively. We follow the following instructions to install Elasticsearch and Milvus on a local host (for example, your laptop).

## Prerequisites

Requirements: `docker` and `docker compose`, both are included in [Docker Desktop](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) for Mac or Windows users.

## Download the YAML file

Download `docker-compose.dev.yml` and save it as `docker-compose.yml` manually, or with the following command.

```bash
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/denser-org/denser-retriever/main/docker-compose.dev.yml -O docker-compose.yml
```

## Start the services

Start the services with the following command.

```bash
docker compose up -d
```

<Callout>
The Elasticsearch and Milvus services will be started in the background. You can check the status of the services with the following command.

<code>docker compose ps</code>

</Callout>

## Test

Optionally, we can run the following command to verify that the Milvus is correctly installed.

```bash
poetry run python -m pytest tests/test_retriever_milvus.py
```
