diff --git a/install_requirements.sh b/install_requirements.sh
index db0803307..925872ec4 100755
--- a/install_requirements.sh
+++ b/install_requirements.sh
@@ -5,16 +5,14 @@
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 
+set -eou pipefail
+
 # Install required python dependencies for developing
 # Dependencies are defined in .pyproject.toml
-if [[ -z $PYTHON_EXECUTABLE ]];
+PYTHON_EXECUTABLE=${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE:-python}
+if [[ -z ${CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV:-} ]] || [[ ${CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV:-} == "base" ]] || [[ ! -x "$(command -v python)" ]];
 then
-  if [[ -z $CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV ]] || [[ $CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV == "base" ]] || [[ ! -x "$(command -v python)" ]];
-  then
-    PYTHON_EXECUTABLE=python3
-  else
-    PYTHON_EXECUTABLE=python
-  fi
+  PYTHON_EXECUTABLE=python3
 fi
 
 # Check python version. Expect 3.10.x or 3.11.x
@@ -37,7 +35,10 @@ fi
 # newer version of torch nightly installed later in this script.
 #
 
-$PIP_EXECUTABLE install -r requirements.txt --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cu121
+(
+  set -x
+  $PIP_EXECUTABLE install -r requirements.txt --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cu121
+)
 
 # Since torchchat often uses main-branch features of pytorch, only the nightly
 # pip versions will have the required features. The NIGHTLY_VERSION value should
@@ -49,7 +50,10 @@ $PIP_EXECUTABLE install -r requirements.txt --extra-index-url https://download.p
 NIGHTLY_VERSION=dev20240710
 
 # Uninstall triton, as nightly will depend on pytorch-triton, which is one and the same
-$PIP_EXECUTABLE uninstall -y triton
+(
+  set -x
+  $PIP_EXECUTABLE uninstall -y triton
+)
 
 # The pip repository that hosts nightly torch packages. cpu by default.
 # If cuda is available, based on presence of nvidia-smi, install the pytorch nightly
@@ -68,12 +72,21 @@ REQUIREMENTS_TO_INSTALL=(
 
 # Install the requirements. `--extra-index-url` tells pip to look for package
 # versions on the provided URL if they aren't available on the default URL.
-$PIP_EXECUTABLE install --extra-index-url "${TORCH_NIGHTLY_URL}" \
+(
+  set -x
+  $PIP_EXECUTABLE install --extra-index-url "${TORCH_NIGHTLY_URL}" \
     "${REQUIREMENTS_TO_INSTALL[@]}"
+)
 
 # For torchao need to install from github since nightly build doesn't have macos build.
 # TODO: Remove this and install nightly build, once it supports macos
-$PIP_EXECUTABLE install git+https://github.com/pytorch/ao.git@d36de1b144b73bf753bd082109c2b5d0141abd5b
+(
+  set -x
+  $PIP_EXECUTABLE install git+https://github.com/pytorch/ao.git@d36de1b144b73bf753bd082109c2b5d0141abd5b
+)
 if [[ -x "$(command -v nvidia-smi)" ]]; then
-  $PYTHON_EXECUTABLE scripts/patch_triton.py
+  (
+    set -x
+    $PYTHON_EXECUTABLE scripts/patch_triton.py
+  )
 fi