From 78834e5045c6f9bb6b469b7a185aa0c84cbfc48a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dobromir Popov <dobromir.popov@gateway.one>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 11:32:15 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] md: setup on windows native default py CUDA supprot

---
 QUICKSTART.md | 62 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 62 insertions(+)

diff --git a/QUICKSTART.md b/QUICKSTART.md
index 7b1fe69..64e46ce 100644
--- a/QUICKSTART.md
+++ b/QUICKSTART.md
@@ -58,6 +58,68 @@ No firewall rules, no `--advertise-host` needed — just point at the public tra
 Use this when the tracker is on another machine and you want Windows to host a
 reachable node on the LAN.
 
+#### Option A — existing conda/miniforge environment with CUDA torch (recommended if you already have it)
+
+First, make sure the conda base environment is active so that `python` and `pip` both
+resolve to the same miniforge installation:
+
+```powershell
+conda activate base
+deactivate   # drop any .venv that may be layered on top; safe no-op if none active
+```
+
+Install project packages into the active conda/miniforge env:
+
+```powershell
+cd D:\DEV\workspace\REPOS\git.d-popov.com\neuron-tai
+
+pip install -e packages\tracker -e packages\node -e packages\p2p -e packages\gateway -e packages\relay
+pip install transformers accelerate safetensors   # torch is already present
+```
+
+Verify torch is importable and CUDA is live **before** starting the node:
+
+```powershell
+python -c "import torch; print(torch.__version__, torch.cuda.is_available())"
+# Expected: 2.x.x+cuXXX  True
+```
+
+If you get `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'torch'` even though `pip install torch`
+says "already satisfied", the `torch/` package directory is missing while the metadata
+stub remains (can happen after a conda-managed install). Force-reinstall via pip:
+
+```powershell
+pip install --force-reinstall torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu118
+```
+
+Then re-run the verify step above.
+
+If that prints `True` but `meshnet-node` still can't find torch, the venv entry point
+is shadowing the conda one. Check which binary wins:
+
+```powershell
+(Get-Command meshnet-node).Source
+# Should show: C:\Users\<you>\miniforge3\Scripts\meshnet-node.exe
+# If it shows .venv\Scripts\meshnet-node.exe, use the full path below instead
+```
+
+To start a node:
+
+```powershell
+$env:HF_HOME = "D:\DEV\models"
+meshnet-node start --tracker https://ai.neuron.d-popov.com --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct
+```
+
+If the wrong entry point is shadowing, invoke via the full conda path:
+
+```powershell
+C:\Users\popov\miniforge3\Scripts\meshnet-node.exe start `
+  --tracker https://ai.neuron.d-popov.com `
+  --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct
+```
+
+#### Option B — isolated virtualenv (fresh machine, no existing torch)
+
 1. Install prerequisites on Windows:
    - Python 3.11 or 3.12 from <https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/>
    - Git for Windows from <https://git-scm.com/download/win>