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Install Motoko locally

Follow these steps to set up your local Motoko development environment.

1. Install the IC SDK​

To develop Motoko projects, you need the Motoko compiler (moc). The Internet Computer Software Development Kit (IC SDK) includes the latest version of moc along with utilities for creating, deploying, and managing applications.

Prerequisites​

Open a terminal window.
Download and install Node.js.
sh -ci "$(curl -fsSL https://internetcomputer.org/install.sh)"

To customize your IC SDK installation, you can use the interactive installation prompt or set environment variables for a terminal session.

Confirm the IC SDK has been installed (you may need to open a new terminal window):

dfx --version

2. Install the Motoko VS Code extension​

While you can use any IDE for Motoko development, Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is recommended.

If you are using VS Code, you can enhance your development experience by installing the official Motoko extension.

Explore Motoko use cases​

Motoko makes it easy to build scalable backend services for web applications.

  1. Hello, world!

  2. Expand your application by calling external APIs from a Motoko canister.

  3. Create a Reversi game built in Motoko.

Resources​