diff --git a/scripts/setup/extract_tar.py b/scripts/setup/extract_tar.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d832be7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/setup/extract_tar.py
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+import os
+import sys
+import shutil
+import tarfile
+import argparse
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Extract tar archives, resolving symlinks as copies if symlinks are not supported.")
+    parser.add_argument("--archive", required=True, help="Path to the tar archive")
+    parser.add_argument("--dest", required=True, help="Destination directory")
+    parser.add_argument("--strip-components", type=int, default=0, help="Number of leading components to strip")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    archive_path = args.archive
+    dest_dir = args.dest
+    strip_components = args.strip_components
+
+    if not os.path.exists(archive_path):
+        print(f"Error: Archive not found: {archive_path}", file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    os.makedirs(dest_dir, exist_ok=True)
+
+    # Check if filesystem supports symlinks in dest_dir
+    test_link = os.path.join(dest_dir, f".test_symlink_{os.getpid()}")
+    use_symlinks = True
+    try:
+        if os.path.lexists(test_link):
+            os.unlink(test_link)
+        os.symlink("test_target", test_link)
+        os.unlink(test_link)
+    except OSError:
+        use_symlinks = False
+
+    print(f"Extracting {archive_path} to {dest_dir} (strip-components={strip_components}, use_symlinks={use_symlinks})...")
+
+    try:
+        with tarfile.open(archive_path, "r") as tar:
+            members = tar.getmembers()
+            
+            # Map of stripped_path -> target (for symlinks)
+            symlinks_dict = {}
+            regular_members = []
+
+            for member in members:
+                parts = member.name.split('/')
+                # Strip leading components
+                if len(parts) <= strip_components:
+                    continue
+                stripped_name = '/'.join(parts[strip_components:])
+                if not stripped_name:
+                    continue
+                
+                # Update the member name in-place
+                member.name = stripped_name
+
+                if member.issym() or member.islnk():
+                    symlinks_dict[member.name] = member.linkname
+                else:
+                    regular_members.append(member)
+
+            # Extract regular files and directories first
+            tar.extractall(path=dest_dir, members=regular_members)
+
+            # Now handle symlinks
+            for link_path, link_target in symlinks_dict.items():
+                full_link_path = os.path.join(dest_dir, link_path)
+                
+                # Resolve final target recursively in case of nested symlinks
+                link_dir = os.path.dirname(full_link_path)
+                
+                # Recursive resolver helper
+                def resolve_final_target(current_path, current_target):
+                    # target_abs is the absolute path to the target file/dir
+                    target_abs = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(current_path), current_target))
+                    # Check if target_abs is inside dest_dir
+                    rel_to_dest = os.path.relpath(target_abs, dest_dir)
+                    if rel_to_dest in symlinks_dict:
+                        next_target = symlinks_dict[rel_to_dest]
+                        return resolve_final_target(target_abs, next_target)
+                    return target_abs
+
+                target_abs = resolve_final_target(full_link_path, link_target)
+
+                # Ensure parent directory exists
+                os.makedirs(link_dir, exist_ok=True)
+
+                if os.path.lexists(full_link_path):
+                    try:
+                        os.unlink(full_link_path)
+                    except OSError:
+                        shutil.rmtree(full_link_path, ignore_errors=True)
+
+                if use_symlinks:
+                    try:
+                        os.symlink(link_target, full_link_path)
+                    except OSError:
+                        # Fallback to copy if symlink creation fails unexpectedly
+                        copy_fallback(target_abs, full_link_path)
+                else:
+                    copy_fallback(target_abs, full_link_path)
+
+        print("Extraction completed successfully.")
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"Error extracting archive: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+def copy_fallback(src, dst):
+    if not os.path.exists(src):
+        # Target doesn't exist. Maybe it's an external link or wasn't extracted.
+        print(f"Warning: Symlink target does not exist, skipping copy: {src}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return
+    try:
+        if os.path.isdir(src):
+            shutil.copytree(src, dst)
+        else:
+            shutil.copy2(src, dst)
+        print(f"Created fallback copy: {dst} -> {src}")
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"Error copying {src} to {dst}: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/scripts/setup/setup-llama.sh b/scripts/setup/setup-llama.sh
index b849226..3b3a4d7 100644
--- a/scripts/setup/setup-llama.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup/setup-llama.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ download_and_extract() {
   echo "   >>   Downloading $asset"
   curl -fSL --progress-bar "$url" -o "$archive.part"
   mv "$archive.part" "$archive"
-  tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$dest" --strip-components=1
+  if command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    python3 "$SCRIPT_DIR/extract_tar.py" --archive "$archive" --dest "$dest" --strip-components=1
+  else
+    tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$dest" --strip-components=1
+  fi
   rm -f "$archive"
   chmod +x "$dest"/llama-* 2>/dev/null || true
 
diff --git a/scripts/setup/setup-whisper.sh b/scripts/setup/setup-whisper.sh
index 80d5b78..83f1bda 100644
--- a/scripts/setup/setup-whisper.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup/setup-whisper.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ download_and_extract() {
   echo "   >>   Downloading $asset"
   curl -fSL --progress-bar "$url" -o "$archive.part"
   mv "$archive.part" "$archive"
-  tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$dest" --strip-components=1
+  if command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    python3 "$SCRIPT_DIR/extract_tar.py" --archive "$archive" --dest "$dest" --strip-components=1
+  else
+    tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$dest" --strip-components=1
+  fi
   rm -f "$archive"
   chmod +x "$dest"/whisper-* "$dest"/main "$dest"/server 2>/dev/null || true