# Development environment installation

## Requirements

The Zulip development environment can be installed on **macOS,
Windows, and Linux** (Ubuntu recommended). You'll need at least **2GB
of available RAM**.

Installing the Zulip development environment requires downloading several hundred
megabytes of dependencies, so you will need an **active, reasonably fast,
internet connection throughout the entire installation processes.** You can
[configure a proxy][configure-proxy] if you need one.

## Recommended setup (Vagrant)

**For first-time contributors on macOS, Windows, and most Debian-based distros
(like Ubuntu), we recommend using the [Vagrant development
environment][install-vagrant]**.

This method creates a virtual machine (for Windows and macOS) or a Linux
container (for Ubuntu) inside which the Zulip server and all related services
will run. Vagrant adds a bit of overhead to using the Zulip development server, but
provides an isolated environment that is easy to install, update, and
uninstall. It has been well-tested and performs well.

## Advanced setup (non-Vagrant)

For more experienced contributors, or for first-time contributors who don't
want to or can't use Vagrant, Zulip supports a wide range of ways to install
the Zulip development environment on **macOS and Linux (Ubuntu
recommended)**:

* On **Ubuntu** 16.04 Xenial and 14.04 Trusty and **Debian** 9
  Stretch, you can easily
  **[install without using Vagrant][install-direct]**.
* On **other Linux** distributions, you'll need to follow slightly different
  instructions to **[install manually][install-generic]**.
* On **macOS and Linux** (Ubuntu recommended), you can install **[using
  Docker][install-docker]**, though support for this remains experimental.

Unfortunately, the only supported method to install on Windows is the [Vagrant
method][install-vagrant].

## Slow internet connections

If you have a very slow network connection, however, you may want to avoid
using Vagrant (which involves downloading an Ubuntu virtual machine or Linux
Container) and either [install directly][install-direct] on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial
or 14.04 Trust, or use [the manual install process][install-generic] instead.
These options only support Linux.

An alternative option if you have poor network connectivity is to rent a cloud
server and install the Zulip development environment for remote use. See [next
section][self-install-remote] for details.

## Installing remotely

The Zulip development environment works well on remote virtual
machines. This can be a good alternative for those with poor network
connectivity or who have limited storage/memory on their local
machines.

We recommend giving the Zulip development environment its **own virtual machine**, running
**Ubuntu 14.04 or 16.04**, with at least **2GB of memory**.

If the Zulip development environment will be the only thing running on
the remote virtual machine, we recommend installing
[directly][install-direct]. Otherwise, we recommend the
[Vagrant][install-vagrant] method so you can easily uninstall if you
need to.

If you want to run a non-Ubuntu distribution, follow the [generic Linux
directions][install-generic].

## Next steps

Once you've installed the Zulip development environment, you'll want
to read these documents to learn how to use it:

* [Using the Development Environment][using-dev-env]
* [Testing][testing] (and [Configuring Travis CI][travis-ci])

And if you've setup the Zulip development environment on a remote
machine, take a look at our tips for
[developing remotely][dev-remote].

[dev-remote]: remote.html
[install-direct]: ../development/setup-advanced.html#installing-directly-on-ubuntu-or-debian
[install-docker]: ../development/setup-advanced.html#using-docker-experimental
[install-generic]: ../development/setup-advanced.html#installing-manually-on-linux
[install-vagrant]: ../development/setup-vagrant.html
[self-install-remote]: #installing-remotely
[self-slow-internet]: #slow-internet-connections
[configure-proxy]: ../development/setup-vagrant.html#specifying-a-proxy
[using-dev-env]: using.html
[testing]: ../testing/testing.html
[travis-ci]: ../git/cloning.html#step-3-configure-travis-ci-continuous-integration