---
slug: docling
kind: runbook
status: docs-checked
sh: https://insidethemachine.ai/install/docling.sh
ps1: https://insidethemachine.ai/install/docling.ps1
json: https://insidethemachine.ai/install/docling.json
page: https://insidethemachine.ai/setups/docling
---

# Install: Docling

Turn PDFs, Office docs, Apple iWork files, audio and more into clean Markdown/JSON for RAG.

**Run status: Not run: commands checked against the official docs only.** Commands checked against the official docs on 2026-10-15. Not run end to end.

**This script:** The wrapper scripts are generated from the site data. Every .sh passed bash -n and shellcheck and ran in plan mode on Linux (Debian 13). Every .ps1 passed the PowerShell parser and chat.ps1 ran in plan, verify and rollback mode under PowerShell 7 on Linux with Windows calls mocked. Not run on macOS or real Windows.

## One command

```bash
curl -fsSL https://insidethemachine.ai/install/docling.sh | bash
```

Windows (PowerShell):

```powershell
irm https://insidethemachine.ai/install/docling.ps1 | iex
```

Actions: `| bash -s -- plan` (print only), `verify`, `rollback --yes`. Env: ITM_RAM. Read the script first: `curl -fsSL https://insidethemachine.ai/install/docling.sh | less`.

Lines marked YOU RUN are not run by the script (servers, interactive apps, your own files). The script prints them at the end, in order.

## Steps

### macOS and Linux (bash; brew lines are macOS only)

Install:

1. **Install Docling**
   - run: `python3 -m venv ~/.venvs/docling && source ~/.venvs/docling/bin/activate`
   - run: `pip install docling`
2. **Configure (your choices)**
   - YOU RUN (optional: VLM pipeline using GraniteDocling): `docling --pipeline vlm --vlm-model granite_docling https://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.01062`

Verify:

- `docling https://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.01062` → expect: writes a Markdown conversion of the paper to the current directory

Rollback:

- run: `pip uninstall -y docling && rm -rf ~/.venvs/docling`

### Windows (PowerShell, not run by us)

Install:

1. **Install Docling**
   - YOU RUN (run inside a Python venv): `pip install docling`

Verify:

- `docling https://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.01062` → expect: writes a Markdown conversion of the paper to the current directory

Rollback:

- YOU RUN (macOS/Linux command; do the same by hand): `pip uninstall -y docling && rm -rf ~/.venvs/docling`