# Development environment installation

## Requirements

The Zulip development environment can be installed on **macOS,
Windows, and Linux** (Debian or 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

**For first-time contributors, we recommend using the
[Vagrant development environment][install-vagrant]** on
macOS and Linux based OS and [WSL 2 setup][install-via-wsl] on Windows.

## Vagrant setup

[Vagrant setup][install-vagrant] creates a virtual machine (for Windows and macOS) or a
Linux container (otherwise) 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

Zulip also supports a wide range of ways to install the Zulip
development environment:

- On Linux platforms, you can **[install directly][install-direct]**.
- On Windows, you can **[install directly][install-via-wsl]** via WSL 2.

## 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 [install directly][install-direct] on
a Linux system.

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 the [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 one of
[the supported platforms for direct installation][install-direct],
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.

## 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 CI][ci])

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

[dev-remote]: remote.md
[install-direct]: setup-advanced.md#installing-directly-on-ubuntu-debian-centos-or-fedora
[install-vagrant]: setup-vagrant.md
[self-install-remote]: #installing-remotely
[self-slow-internet]: #slow-internet-connections
[configure-proxy]: setup-vagrant.md#specifying-a-proxy
[using-dev-env]: using.md
[testing]: ../testing/testing.md
[ci]: ../git/cloning.md#step-3-configure-continuous-integration-for-your-fork
[install-via-wsl]: setup-advanced.md#installing-directly-on-windows-10-with-wsl-2