Prerequisites
Overview
Before deploying Smallest Self-Host, you’ll need credentials from Smallest.ai and infrastructure with GPU support.
Credentials from Smallest.ai
Contact support@smallest.ai to obtain the following:
License Key
Your unique license key for validation. This is required for all deployments.
You’ll add this to your configuration:
Or as an environment variable:
Container Registry Credentials
Credentials to pull Docker images from quay.io:
- Username
- Password
Login to the registry:
For Kubernetes, you’ll add these to your values.yaml:
Model Download URLs
Download URLs for the AI models (STT and/or TTS).
For Docker deployments, add to your .env:
For Kubernetes, add to values.yaml:
Infrastructure Requirements
- NVIDIA GPU with 16+ GB VRAM
- Recommended: A10, L4, L40s, T4, or A100
- NVIDIA Driver 525+ (for A10, A100, L4)
- NVIDIA Driver 470+ (for T4, V100)
- Docker 20.10+ or Podman 4.0+
- NVIDIA Container Toolkit
- For Kubernetes: GPU Operator or Device Plugin
Minimum Resources
Network Requirements
The License Proxy requires outbound HTTPS access to validate licenses:
Ensure your firewall and network policies allow outbound HTTPS traffic to api.smallest.ai.
Next Steps
Choose your deployment method and follow the specific prerequisites:

