macOS Setup fails

[aptonline]

Intalled the newest version as of this post and I'm seeing fails on macOS Tahoe 26.6.2.

[Pap1]

Same here. M1 26.6.1

[danielravina]

Thanks for reporting this.

To rule out a few things first, can you try run the first setup with the previous version https://github.com/danielravina/stemkit/releases/tag/v0.1.12

[codystanton]

Same Issue here downloading v0.1.13 first, investigating why, then seeing this open issue, then attempting v0.1.12. Both versions show the same error.

M4 Air, Tahoe 26.6.2

[brucek]

Same issue, both 0.1.13 and 0.1.12 failing:
OSX 26.5.2
MacBook Pro / Apple M1 Max

[joecer21]

0.1.12 and 0.1.13 fail the same way because nothing relevant changed between them.

The cause looks like Python version. StemKit asks for torch==2.5.1, which was only ever built for Python 3.9 through 3.12. On macOS, StemKit picks up whatever python3 is on the system, and that's now 3.14 — so there's no version of torch it can install, which is exactly what the error says.

Windows doesn't hit this because it only looks for Python 3.9–3.12 by name, so it ignores 3.14 and falls back to StemKit's own bundled Python.

Workaround for anyone stuck

This forces StemKit to use its own bundled Python instead of the system one:

Quit StemKit
Open Terminal
Paste this and hit Enter:
STEMKIT_FORCE_RUNTIME=1 /Applications/StemKit.app/Contents/MacOS/StemKit
Click "Get started" when StemKit opens

Setup should complete normally. (If StemKit isn't in your Applications folder, change that path to wherever it is.)

Proposed fix: in detectTools, only accept Python 3.9–3.12. Right now the check is minor >= 9 with no upper limit, so it grabs 3.14. Adding && minor <= 12 would make anything newer fall through to the bundled runtime, which is what Windows already does by accident.

I'm on Windows so I can't test this directly, have someone confirm the workaround first.

[cooperlang]

Tried the suggested workaround on a M2 / Tahoe 26.6 and it did not resolve the error on setup.
STEMKIT_FORCE_RUNTIME=1 /Applications/StemKit.app/Contents/MacOS/StemKit

[joecer21]

Tried the suggested workaround on a M2 / Tahoe 26.6 and it did not resolve the error on setup. STEMKIT_FORCE_RUNTIME=1 /Applications/StemKit.app/Contents/MacOS/StemKit

I think the workaround was incomplete. The variable only changes which Python StemKit picks; it doesn't clear the broken environment your first attempt already created. StemKit reuses that folder instead of rebuilding it, so pip likely kept running under the old Python 3.14 setup regardless.

Same idea, but clearing the old environment first:

1. Quit StemKit
2. Open Terminal
3. Delete the broken environment:
   rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/StemKit/venv
4. Relaunch:
   STEMKIT_FORCE_RUNTIME=1 /Applications/StemKit.app/Contents/MacOS/StemKit
5. Click "Get started"

If it still fails, this one command will tell us exactly what's happening:
cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/StemKit/venv/pyvenv.cfg

That prints the Python version the environment is actually using. If it says 3.14, my diagnosis holds and the variable isn't taking effect. If it says 3.11.10 and setup still fails, then I'm wrong about the cause and we should look elsewhere.

Posting the full error text would help.

[cooperlang]

The updated process worked for me. Successful install after deleting the broken env then running the forced runtime.

Thank you kindly!

[aptonline]

That workaround works, thanks. Will keep this issue open until a fixed version is released.

[brucek]

The updated process worked for me. Successful install after deleting the broken env then running the forced runtime.

Same here, thank you !

[danielravina]

Thanks everyone for chiming in!
Fixed in v0.1.14