Running Locally
What is a local Merka system?
Section titled “What is a local Merka system?”When you run merka for the first time, it creates a complete Merka system on your machine, inside a private, isolated environment. It runs the same software as dedicated Merka hardware — what you run locally is what runs for real.
The default local system is called merka-light: a compact setup that runs everything on one machine. It’s designed for personal use and getting familiar with Merka.
Requirements
Section titled “Requirements”| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| Disk | 40 GB free | 120 GB free |
| CPU | 2 cores | 4+ cores |
You also need a small set of free, open-source helper tools. You don’t need to figure these out yourself: run merka doctor, or just run merka — the built-in preflight check tells you exactly what’s missing for your platform and how to install it.
What happens during creation
Section titled “What happens during creation”When the local system is created (from the device-scan screen via “Run Merka locally on this machine”), you’ll see a stage checklist with live progress. Each stage shows a spinner while in progress and a checkmark when done: preparing, starting the private environment, forming the system, starting services, and activating.
The whole process typically takes 2-5 minutes depending on your machine.
While creation is running, press [L] to toggle a raw log panel showing detailed output. It’s hidden by default to keep the screen clean.
If something stalls
Section titled “If something stalls”The creation process monitors its own progress continuously. If a stage stops making progress for an extended period, you’ll see a yellow warning with the specific stage that stalled and three options:
[w]Wipe + Retry — Destroys the in-progress system and restarts from scratch. This is the safest recovery when something went wrong early.[Enter]Keep waiting — Dismisses the warning and continues waiting. Useful if you know the machine is just slow (low RAM, heavy CPU load).[Esc]Cancel — Returns to the configuration screen so you can adjust settings or exit.
There are no hard timeouts. The process will keep trying indefinitely until it succeeds, fails explicitly, or you choose to intervene.
Crash recovery
Section titled “Crash recovery”If merka is killed mid-creation (Ctrl-C, terminal closed, machine rebooted), the next time you launch merka it detects the interrupted state automatically. You’ll see a recovery prompt:
A previous system 'merka-light' was interrupted.
[R] Resume -- Pick up where you left off [W] Wipe -- Destroy everything and start fresh [Esc] Ignore -- Skip for now (state stays on disk)- Resume restarts the system from its saved state and re-enters the creation flow at the appropriate stage. No data is lost.
- Wipe removes the saved state and returns you to the device-scan screen for a clean start.
- Ignore skips past the recovery prompt and goes to the device-scan screen. The saved state stays on disk and you’ll see this prompt again next time.
Disk usage
Section titled “Disk usage”The default local system uses approximately:
- System storage: 40 GB (operating software and services)
- Data storage: 80 GB (storage for your data)
- Total: ~120 GB
Everything lives under your app data directory, so removing the system reclaims all of the space.
Managing your system
Section titled “Managing your system”Check status
Section titled “Check status”From the TUI dashboard, or:
merka statusStart over
Section titled “Start over”If you need a fresh start, use Start over / reset from the dashboard menu. This removes the local system; the next time you run merka, it will create a new one.
Multiple systems
Section titled “Multiple systems”merka is designed around a single active system. If you have more than one configured, it shows a picker screen so you can choose which one to use.