Prerequisites

You need three things on your machine:

Tool	Min version	Why
Python or Node.js	3.12+ / 18+	The SDK runtime. Pick one based on Choose Your SDK.
git	any recent	Clone scaffolded projects, version your agent code
A terminal	—	macOS Terminal, iTerm2, Linux shells, Windows Terminal, or WSL2

If you already have a working Python 3.12 or Node 18+ install and git, skip ahead to install the SDK.

macOS

The cleanest path is Homebrew.

# Install Homebrew if you don't have it
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# For Python users
brew install python@3.12 git

# For TypeScript users
brew install node git

Verify:

python3.12 --version    # → Python 3.12.x
node --version          # → v18.x or higher
git --version

Multiple Pythons?

Use pyenv if you want Python 3.12 alongside an existing system Python:

brew install pyenv
pyenv install 3.12
pyenv global 3.12

Linux — Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update

# Python
sudo apt install python3.12 python3.12-venv python3-pip git

# Node.js (via NodeSource for current versions)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs git

If python3.12 is not in your distro's repos (e.g. older Ubuntu), use the deadsnakes PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3.12 python3.12-venv

Linux — Arch

sudo pacman -Syu python nodejs npm git

Linux — Fedora

sudo dnf install python3.12 nodejs git

Windows

We recommend WSL2 (Ubuntu) for the smoothest experience — every example in these docs is written for a POSIX shell.

# In an admin PowerShell
wsl --install -d Ubuntu

Reboot, open Ubuntu, then follow the Linux — Ubuntu / Debian instructions above.

:::

Verify everything

Open a fresh terminal and run:

python3 --version       # → 3.12.x  (Python users)
node --version          # → v18+    (TS users)
git --version           # → 2.x
curl --version          # → curl 7.x or 8.x  (used in later steps)

If all four print versions, you are ready.

Common gotchas

Symptom	Fix
python3.12: command not found after install	Open a new shell or run hash -r
pip install fails with SSL errors on Linux	sudo apt install ca-certificates && sudo update-ca-certificates
Node says EACCES when running npm -g	Use npx or set up a user-level npm prefix; never sudo npm install -g
WSL /mnt/c/... is slow	Keep your project inside the Linux home (~/projects/...), not on the Windows drive

Next

• Choose Your SDK →