Install Additional Tools For Xcode

• Install Additional Tools For Xcode Install
• Install Additional Tools For Node.js
• Install Additional Tools For Xcode Windows
• Install Additional Tools For Xcode Tutorial

1. Open the Applications folder and open the new version of Xcode. If you renamed Xcode, make sure you open the correct application. Xcode may prompt you to install additional components. This will take a few minutes. While it's installing, check that your default Xcode version is the one you just downloaded: Open Terminal; Type.
2. Additional Downloads. Get the latest beta and older versions of Xcode. To view downloads, simply sign in with your Apple ID. Apple Developer Program membership is not required.

• Get the Flutter SDK
• iOS setup
• Android setup

Xcode 4.3 reorganizes the Xcode menu to include development tools. Xcode 4.3.1 was released on March 7, 2012 to add support for iOS 5.1. 28 Xcode 4.3.2 was released on March 22, 2012 with enhancements to the iOS Simulator and a suggested move to the LLDB debugger versus the GDB debugger (which appear to be undocumented changes).

System requirements

To install and run Flutter,your development environment must meet these minimum requirements:

• Operating Systems: macOS (64-bit)
• Disk Space: 2.8 GB (does not include disk space for IDE/tools).
• Tools: Flutter uses git for installation and upgrade. We recommendinstalling Xcode, which includes git, but you can also install git separately.

Important: If you're installing on a Mac with the latest Apple M1 processor, you may find these supplementary notes useful reading as we complete support for the new Apple Silicon architecture.

Get the Flutter SDK

1. Download the following installation bundle to get the lateststable release of the Flutter SDK:

   For other release channels, and older builds,see the SDK releases page.

2. Extract the file in the desired location, for example:

3. Add the flutter tool to your path:

   This command sets your PATH variable for thecurrent terminal window only.To permanently add Flutter to your path, seeUpdate your path.

You are now ready to run Flutter commands!

Note: To update an existing version of Flutter, see Upgrading Flutter.

Run flutter doctor

Run the following command to see if there are any dependencies you need toinstall to complete the setup (for verbose output, add the -v flag):

This command checks your environment and displays a report to the terminalwindow. The Dart SDK is bundled with Flutter; it is not necessary to installDart separately. Check the output carefully for other software you mightneed to install or further tasks to perform (shown in bold text).

For example:

The following sections describe how to perform these tasks and finish the setupprocess.

Once you have installed any missing dependencies, run the flutter doctorcommand again to verify that you've set everything up correctly.

Downloading straight from GitHub instead of using an archive

This is only suggested for advanced use cases.

You can also use git directly instead of downloading the prepared archive. For example,to download the stable branch:

Update your path, and run flutter doctor. That will let you know if there areother dependencies you need to install to use Flutter (e.g. the Android SDK).

If you did not use the archive, Flutter will download necessary development binaries as theyare needed (if you used the archive, they are included in the download). You may wish topre-download these development binaries (for example, you may wish to do this when settingup hermetic build environments, or if you only have intermittent network availability). Todo so, run the following command:

For additional download options, see flutter help precache.

Warning: The flutter tool uses Google Analytics to anonymously report feature usage statistics and basic crash reports. This data is used to help improve Flutter tools over time.

Flutter tool analytics are not sent on the very first run. To disable reporting, type flutter config --no-analytics. To display the current setting, type flutter config. If you opt out of analytics, an opt-out event is sent, and then no further information is sent by the Flutter tool.

By downloading the Flutter SDK, you agree to the Google Terms of Service. Note: The Google Privacy Policy describes how data is handled in this service.

Moreover, Flutter includes the Dart SDK, which may send usage metrics and crash reports to Google.

Update your path

You can update your PATH variable for the current session atthe command line, as shown in Get the Flutter SDK.You'll probably want to update this variable permanently,so you can run flutter commands in any terminal session.

The steps for modifying this variable permanently forall terminal sessions are machine-specific.Typically you add a line to a file that is executedwhenever you open a new window. For example:

1. Determine the path of your clone of the Flutter SDK.You need this in Step 3.
2. Open (or create) the rc file for your shell.Typing echo $SHELL in your Terminal tells youwhich shell you're using.If you're using Bash,edit $HOME/.bash_profile or $HOME/.bashrc.If you're using Z shell, edit $HOME/.zshrc.If you're using a different shell, the file pathand filename will be different on your machine.

3. Add the following line and change[PATH_OF_FLUTTER_GIT_DIRECTORY] to bethe path of your clone of the Flutter git repo:

4. Run source $HOME/.to refresh the current window,or open a new terminal window toautomatically source the file.

5. Verify that the flutter/bin directoryis now in your PATH by running:

   Verify that the flutter command is available by running:

Note: As of Flutter's 1.19.0 dev release, the Flutter SDK contains the dart command alongside the flutter command so that you can more easily run Dart command-line programs. Downloading the Flutter SDK also downloads the compatible version of Dart, but if you've downloaded the Dart SDK separately, make sure that the Flutter version of dart is first in your path, as the two versions might not be compatible. The following command (on macOS, linux, and chrome OS), tells you whether the flutter and dart commands originate from the same bin directory and are therefore compatible. (Some versions of Windows support a similar where command.)

As shown above, the two commands don't come from the same bin directory. Update your path to use commands from /path-to-flutter-sdk/bin before commands from /usr/local/bin (in this case). After updating your shell for the change to take effect, running the which or where command again should show that the flutter and dart commands now come from the same directory.

To learn more about the dart command, run dart -h from the command line, or see the dart tool page.

Platform setup

macOS supports developing Flutter apps in iOS, Android,and the web (technical preview release).Complete at least one of the platform setup steps now,to be able to build and run your first Flutter app.

iOS setup

Install Xcode

To develop Flutter apps for iOS, you need a Mac with Xcode installed.

1. Install the latest stable version of Xcode(using web download or the Mac App Store).

2. Configure the Xcode command-line tools to use thenewly-installed version of Xcode byrunning the following from the command line:

   This is the correct path for most cases,when you want to use the latest version of Xcode.If you need to use a different version,specify that path instead.

3. Make sure the Xcode license agreement is signed byeither opening Xcode once and confirming or runningsudo xcodebuild -license from the command line.

Versions older than the latest stable version may still work,but are not recommended for Flutter development.Using old versions of Xcode to target bitcode is notsupported, and is likely not to work.

With Xcode, you'll be able to run Flutter apps onan iOS device or on the simulator.

Set up the iOS simulator

To prepare to run and test your Flutter app on the iOS simulator,follow these steps:

1. On your Mac, find the Simulator via Spotlight orby using the following command:

2. Make sure your simulator is using a 64-bit device(iPhone 5s or later) by checking the settings inthe simulator's Hardware > Device menu.
3. Depending on your development machine's screen size,simulated high-screen-density iOS devicesmight overflow your screen. Grab the corner of thesimulator and drag it to change the scale. You can alsouse the Window > Physical Size or Window > Pixel Accurateoptions if your computer's resolution is high enough.
   • If you are using a version of Xcode olderthan 9.1, you should instead set the device scalein the Window > Scale menu.

Create and run a simple Flutter app

To create your first Flutter app and test your setup,follow these steps:

1. Create a new Flutter app by running the following from thecommand line:

2. A my_app directory is created, containing Flutter's starter app.Enter this directory:

3. To launch the app in the Simulator,ensure that the Simulator is running and enter:

Deploy to iOS devices

To deploy your Flutter app to a physical iOS deviceyou'll need to set up physical device deployment in Xcodeand an Apple Developer account. If your app is using Flutter plugins,you will also need the third-party CocoaPods dependency manager.

1. You can skip this step if your apps do not depend onFlutter plugins with native iOS code.Install and set up CocoaPods by running the following commands:

   Note: The default version of Ruby requires sudo to install the CocoaPods gem. If you are using a Ruby Version manager, you may need to run without sudo.

2. Follow the Xcode signing flow to provision your project:

   1. Open the default Xcode workspace in your project byrunning open ios/Runner.xcworkspace in a terminalwindow from your Flutter project directory.
   2. Select the device you intend to deploy to in the devicedrop-down menu next to the run button.
   3. Select the Runner project in the left navigation panel.

   4. In the Runner target settings page,make sure your Development Team is selectedunder Signing & Capabilities > Team.

      When you select a team,Xcode creates and downloads a Development Certificate,registers your device with your account,and creates and downloads a provisioning profile (if needed).

      • To start your first iOS development project,you might need to sign intoXcode with your Apple ID. Development and testing is supported for any Apple ID.Enrolling in the Apple Developer Program is required todistribute your app to the App Store.For details about membership types,see Choosing a Membership.

      • The first time you use an attached physical device for iOSdevelopment, you need to trust both your Mac and theDevelopment Certificate on that device.Select Trust in the dialog prompt whenfirst connecting the iOS device to your Mac.

        Then, go to the Settings app on the iOS device,select General > Device Managementand trust your Certificate.For first time users, you may need to selectGeneral > Profiles > Device Management instead.

      • If automatic signing fails in Xcode, verify that the project'sGeneral > Identity > Bundle Identifier value is unique.

3. Start your app by running flutter runor clicking the Run button in Xcode.

Android setup

Note: Flutter relies on a full installation of Android Studio to supply its Android platform dependencies. However, you can write your Flutter apps in a number of editors; a later step discusses that.

Install Android Studio

1. Download and install Android Studio.
2. Start Android Studio, and go through the ‘Android Studio Setup Wizard'.This installs the latest Android SDK, Android SDK Command-line Tools,and Android SDK Build-Tools, which are required by Flutterwhen developing for Android.

Set up your Android device

To prepare to run and test your Flutter app on an Android device,you need an Android device running Android 4.1 (API level 16) or higher.

1. Enable Developer options and USB debugging on your device.Detailed instructions are available in theAndroid documentation.
2. Windows-only: Install the Google USBDriver.
3. Using a USB cable, plug your phone into your computer. If prompted on yourdevice, authorize your computer to access your device.
4. In the terminal, run the flutter devices command to verify thatFlutter recognizes your connected Android device. By default,Flutter uses the version of the Android SDK where your adbtool is based. If you want Flutter to use a different installationof the Android SDK, you must set the ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environmentvariable to that installation directory.

Set up the Android emulator

To prepare to run and test your Flutter app on the Android emulator,follow these steps:

1. EnableVM accelerationon your machine.
2. Launch Android Studio, click the AVD Managericon, and select Create Virtual Device…
   • In older versions of Android Studio, you should insteadlaunch Android Studio > Tools > Android > AVD Manager and selectCreate Virtual Device…. (The Android submenu is only presentwhen inside an Android project.)
   • If you do not have a project open, you can choose Configure > AVD Manager and select Create Virtual Device…
3. Choose a device definition and select Next.
4. Select one or more system images for the Android versions you wantto emulate, and select Next.An x86 or x86_64 image is recommended.
5. Under Emulated Performance, select Hardware - GLES 2.0 to enablehardwareacceleration.

6. Verify the AVD configuration is correct, and select Finish.

   For details on the above steps, see ManagingAVDs.

7. In Android Virtual Device Manager, click Run in the toolbar.The emulator starts up and displays the default canvas for yourselected OS version and device.

Web setup

Flutter has support for building web applications in thestable channel. Any app created in Flutter 2 automaticallybuilds for the web. To add web support to an existing app, followthe instructions on Building a web application with Flutter when you've completed the setup above.

Next step

Set up your preferred editor.

Install Additional Tools For Xcode Install

This article describes the steps to interactively install Git client tools and Visual Studio Code.

• Install Git
• Install Visual Studio Code
• Install Docs Authoring Pack

Important

If you're making only minor changes to an article, you do not need to complete the steps in this article and can continue directly to the quick changes workflow.

Major contributors are encouraged to complete these steps, which enable you to use the major/long-running changes workflow. Even if you have write permissions in the main repository, we highly recommend (and this guide assumes) that you fork and clone the repository, so that you have read/write permissions to store your proposed changes in your fork.

Install Additional Tools For Node.js

Install Git client tools

Install the latest version of Software Freedom Conservancy's Git client tools for your platform.

• Git for Windows. This install includes the Git version control system and Git Bash, the command-line app that you use to interact with your local Git repository.
• Git for Mac is provided as part of the Xcode Command Line Tools. Simply run git from the command line. You will be prompted to install the command line tools if needed. You can also download Git for Mac from the Software Freedom Conservancy.

If you prefer a graphical user interface (GUI) over a command-line interface (CLI), see Software Freedom Conservancy's available GUI Clients page, GitHub's GitHub Desktop, or Visual Studio Code for some popular options.

Follow the instructions for your chosen client for installation and configuration.

In the next article, you will Set up a local Git repository.

Additional Git resources are available here: Git terminology | Git basics | Learning Git and GitHub

Understand Markdown editors

1. Open the Applications folder and open the new version of Xcode. If you renamed Xcode, make sure you open the correct application. Xcode may prompt you to install additional components. This will take a few minutes. While it's installing, check that your default Xcode version is the one you just downloaded: Open Terminal; Type.
2. Additional Downloads. Get the latest beta and older versions of Xcode. To view downloads, simply sign in with your Apple ID. Apple Developer Program membership is not required.

• Get the Flutter SDK
• iOS setup
• Android setup

Xcode 4.3 reorganizes the Xcode menu to include development tools. Xcode 4.3.1 was released on March 7, 2012 to add support for iOS 5.1. 28 Xcode 4.3.2 was released on March 22, 2012 with enhancements to the iOS Simulator and a suggested move to the LLDB debugger versus the GDB debugger (which appear to be undocumented changes).

System requirements

To install and run Flutter,your development environment must meet these minimum requirements:

• Operating Systems: macOS (64-bit)
• Disk Space: 2.8 GB (does not include disk space for IDE/tools).
• Tools: Flutter uses git for installation and upgrade. We recommendinstalling Xcode, which includes git, but you can also install git separately.

Important: If you're installing on a Mac with the latest Apple M1 processor, you may find these supplementary notes useful reading as we complete support for the new Apple Silicon architecture.

Get the Flutter SDK

1. Download the following installation bundle to get the lateststable release of the Flutter SDK:

   For other release channels, and older builds,see the SDK releases page.

2. Extract the file in the desired location, for example:

3. Add the flutter tool to your path:

   This command sets your PATH variable for thecurrent terminal window only.To permanently add Flutter to your path, seeUpdate your path.

You are now ready to run Flutter commands!

Note: To update an existing version of Flutter, see Upgrading Flutter.

Run flutter doctor

Run the following command to see if there are any dependencies you need toinstall to complete the setup (for verbose output, add the -v flag):

This command checks your environment and displays a report to the terminalwindow. The Dart SDK is bundled with Flutter; it is not necessary to installDart separately. Check the output carefully for other software you mightneed to install or further tasks to perform (shown in bold text).

For example:

The following sections describe how to perform these tasks and finish the setupprocess.

Once you have installed any missing dependencies, run the flutter doctorcommand again to verify that you've set everything up correctly.

Downloading straight from GitHub instead of using an archive

This is only suggested for advanced use cases.

You can also use git directly instead of downloading the prepared archive. For example,to download the stable branch:

Update your path, and run flutter doctor. That will let you know if there areother dependencies you need to install to use Flutter (e.g. the Android SDK).

If you did not use the archive, Flutter will download necessary development binaries as theyare needed (if you used the archive, they are included in the download). You may wish topre-download these development binaries (for example, you may wish to do this when settingup hermetic build environments, or if you only have intermittent network availability). Todo so, run the following command:

For additional download options, see flutter help precache.

Warning: The flutter tool uses Google Analytics to anonymously report feature usage statistics and basic crash reports. This data is used to help improve Flutter tools over time.

Flutter tool analytics are not sent on the very first run. To disable reporting, type flutter config --no-analytics. To display the current setting, type flutter config. If you opt out of analytics, an opt-out event is sent, and then no further information is sent by the Flutter tool.

By downloading the Flutter SDK, you agree to the Google Terms of Service. Note: The Google Privacy Policy describes how data is handled in this service.

Moreover, Flutter includes the Dart SDK, which may send usage metrics and crash reports to Google.

Update your path

You can update your PATH variable for the current session atthe command line, as shown in Get the Flutter SDK.You'll probably want to update this variable permanently,so you can run flutter commands in any terminal session.

The steps for modifying this variable permanently forall terminal sessions are machine-specific.Typically you add a line to a file that is executedwhenever you open a new window. For example:

1. Determine the path of your clone of the Flutter SDK.You need this in Step 3.
2. Open (or create) the rc file for your shell.Typing echo $SHELL in your Terminal tells youwhich shell you're using.If you're using Bash,edit $HOME/.bash_profile or $HOME/.bashrc.If you're using Z shell, edit $HOME/.zshrc.If you're using a different shell, the file pathand filename will be different on your machine.

3. Add the following line and change[PATH_OF_FLUTTER_GIT_DIRECTORY] to bethe path of your clone of the Flutter git repo:

4. Run source $HOME/.to refresh the current window,or open a new terminal window toautomatically source the file.

5. Verify that the flutter/bin directoryis now in your PATH by running:

   Verify that the flutter command is available by running:

Note: As of Flutter's 1.19.0 dev release, the Flutter SDK contains the dart command alongside the flutter command so that you can more easily run Dart command-line programs. Downloading the Flutter SDK also downloads the compatible version of Dart, but if you've downloaded the Dart SDK separately, make sure that the Flutter version of dart is first in your path, as the two versions might not be compatible. The following command (on macOS, linux, and chrome OS), tells you whether the flutter and dart commands originate from the same bin directory and are therefore compatible. (Some versions of Windows support a similar where command.)

As shown above, the two commands don't come from the same bin directory. Update your path to use commands from /path-to-flutter-sdk/bin before commands from /usr/local/bin (in this case). After updating your shell for the change to take effect, running the which or where command again should show that the flutter and dart commands now come from the same directory.

To learn more about the dart command, run dart -h from the command line, or see the dart tool page.

Platform setup

macOS supports developing Flutter apps in iOS, Android,and the web (technical preview release).Complete at least one of the platform setup steps now,to be able to build and run your first Flutter app.

iOS setup

Install Xcode

To develop Flutter apps for iOS, you need a Mac with Xcode installed.

1. Install the latest stable version of Xcode(using web download or the Mac App Store).

2. Configure the Xcode command-line tools to use thenewly-installed version of Xcode byrunning the following from the command line:

   This is the correct path for most cases,when you want to use the latest version of Xcode.If you need to use a different version,specify that path instead.

3. Make sure the Xcode license agreement is signed byeither opening Xcode once and confirming or runningsudo xcodebuild -license from the command line.

Versions older than the latest stable version may still work,but are not recommended for Flutter development.Using old versions of Xcode to target bitcode is notsupported, and is likely not to work.

With Xcode, you'll be able to run Flutter apps onan iOS device or on the simulator.

Set up the iOS simulator

To prepare to run and test your Flutter app on the iOS simulator,follow these steps:

1. On your Mac, find the Simulator via Spotlight orby using the following command:

2. Make sure your simulator is using a 64-bit device(iPhone 5s or later) by checking the settings inthe simulator's Hardware > Device menu.
3. Depending on your development machine's screen size,simulated high-screen-density iOS devicesmight overflow your screen. Grab the corner of thesimulator and drag it to change the scale. You can alsouse the Window > Physical Size or Window > Pixel Accurateoptions if your computer's resolution is high enough.
   • If you are using a version of Xcode olderthan 9.1, you should instead set the device scalein the Window > Scale menu.

Create and run a simple Flutter app

To create your first Flutter app and test your setup,follow these steps:

1. Create a new Flutter app by running the following from thecommand line:

2. A my_app directory is created, containing Flutter's starter app.Enter this directory:

3. To launch the app in the Simulator,ensure that the Simulator is running and enter:

Deploy to iOS devices

To deploy your Flutter app to a physical iOS deviceyou'll need to set up physical device deployment in Xcodeand an Apple Developer account. If your app is using Flutter plugins,you will also need the third-party CocoaPods dependency manager.

1. You can skip this step if your apps do not depend onFlutter plugins with native iOS code.Install and set up CocoaPods by running the following commands:

   Note: The default version of Ruby requires sudo to install the CocoaPods gem. If you are using a Ruby Version manager, you may need to run without sudo.

2. Follow the Xcode signing flow to provision your project:

   1. Open the default Xcode workspace in your project byrunning open ios/Runner.xcworkspace in a terminalwindow from your Flutter project directory.
   2. Select the device you intend to deploy to in the devicedrop-down menu next to the run button.
   3. Select the Runner project in the left navigation panel.

   4. In the Runner target settings page,make sure your Development Team is selectedunder Signing & Capabilities > Team.

      When you select a team,Xcode creates and downloads a Development Certificate,registers your device with your account,and creates and downloads a provisioning profile (if needed).

      • To start your first iOS development project,you might need to sign intoXcode with your Apple ID. Development and testing is supported for any Apple ID.Enrolling in the Apple Developer Program is required todistribute your app to the App Store.For details about membership types,see Choosing a Membership.

      • The first time you use an attached physical device for iOSdevelopment, you need to trust both your Mac and theDevelopment Certificate on that device.Select Trust in the dialog prompt whenfirst connecting the iOS device to your Mac.

        Then, go to the Settings app on the iOS device,select General > Device Managementand trust your Certificate.For first time users, you may need to selectGeneral > Profiles > Device Management instead.

      • If automatic signing fails in Xcode, verify that the project'sGeneral > Identity > Bundle Identifier value is unique.

3. Start your app by running flutter runor clicking the Run button in Xcode.

Android setup

Note: Flutter relies on a full installation of Android Studio to supply its Android platform dependencies. However, you can write your Flutter apps in a number of editors; a later step discusses that.

Install Android Studio

1. Download and install Android Studio.
2. Start Android Studio, and go through the ‘Android Studio Setup Wizard'.This installs the latest Android SDK, Android SDK Command-line Tools,and Android SDK Build-Tools, which are required by Flutterwhen developing for Android.

Set up your Android device

To prepare to run and test your Flutter app on an Android device,you need an Android device running Android 4.1 (API level 16) or higher.

1. Enable Developer options and USB debugging on your device.Detailed instructions are available in theAndroid documentation.
2. Windows-only: Install the Google USBDriver.
3. Using a USB cable, plug your phone into your computer. If prompted on yourdevice, authorize your computer to access your device.
4. In the terminal, run the flutter devices command to verify thatFlutter recognizes your connected Android device. By default,Flutter uses the version of the Android SDK where your adbtool is based. If you want Flutter to use a different installationof the Android SDK, you must set the ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environmentvariable to that installation directory.

Set up the Android emulator

To prepare to run and test your Flutter app on the Android emulator,follow these steps:

1. EnableVM accelerationon your machine.
2. Launch Android Studio, click the AVD Managericon, and select Create Virtual Device…
   • In older versions of Android Studio, you should insteadlaunch Android Studio > Tools > Android > AVD Manager and selectCreate Virtual Device…. (The Android submenu is only presentwhen inside an Android project.)
   • If you do not have a project open, you can choose Configure > AVD Manager and select Create Virtual Device…
3. Choose a device definition and select Next.
4. Select one or more system images for the Android versions you wantto emulate, and select Next.An x86 or x86_64 image is recommended.
5. Under Emulated Performance, select Hardware - GLES 2.0 to enablehardwareacceleration.

6. Verify the AVD configuration is correct, and select Finish.

   For details on the above steps, see ManagingAVDs.

7. In Android Virtual Device Manager, click Run in the toolbar.The emulator starts up and displays the default canvas for yourselected OS version and device.

Web setup

Flutter has support for building web applications in thestable channel. Any app created in Flutter 2 automaticallybuilds for the web. To add web support to an existing app, followthe instructions on Building a web application with Flutter when you've completed the setup above.

Next step

Set up your preferred editor.

Install Additional Tools For Xcode Install

This article describes the steps to interactively install Git client tools and Visual Studio Code.

• Install Git
• Install Visual Studio Code
• Install Docs Authoring Pack

Important

If you're making only minor changes to an article, you do not need to complete the steps in this article and can continue directly to the quick changes workflow.

Major contributors are encouraged to complete these steps, which enable you to use the major/long-running changes workflow. Even if you have write permissions in the main repository, we highly recommend (and this guide assumes) that you fork and clone the repository, so that you have read/write permissions to store your proposed changes in your fork.

Install Additional Tools For Node.js

Install Git client tools

Install the latest version of Software Freedom Conservancy's Git client tools for your platform.

• Git for Windows. This install includes the Git version control system and Git Bash, the command-line app that you use to interact with your local Git repository.
• Git for Mac is provided as part of the Xcode Command Line Tools. Simply run git from the command line. You will be prompted to install the command line tools if needed. You can also download Git for Mac from the Software Freedom Conservancy.

If you prefer a graphical user interface (GUI) over a command-line interface (CLI), see Software Freedom Conservancy's available GUI Clients page, GitHub's GitHub Desktop, or Visual Studio Code for some popular options.

Follow the instructions for your chosen client for installation and configuration.

In the next article, you will Set up a local Git repository.

Additional Git resources are available here: Git terminology | Git basics | Learning Git and GitHub

Understand Markdown editors

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that is both easy to read and easy to learn. Therefore, it has rapidly become an industry standard. To write articles in Markdown, we recommend that you first download and install a Markdown editor. Visual Studio Code is the preferred tool for editing Markdown at Microsoft. Atom is another popular tool for editing Markdown.

Markdown text is saved into files with .md extension.

Additional details on how to write with Markdown, including Markdown basics and the features supported by Open Publishing Services (OPS) custom Markdown extensions, are covered in the Markdown Reference article.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code, also known as VS Code, is a lightweight editor that works on Windows, Linux, and Mac. It includes git integration, and support for extensions.

Download and install VS Code. The VS Code home page should detect your operating system correctly.

Tip

To launch VS Code and open the current folder, run the command code . in the command line or bash shell. If the current folder is part of a local git repo, the GitHub integration appears in Visual Studio Code automatically.

Docs Authoring Pack

Install the Docs Authoring Pack for Visual Studio Code. This set of extensions includes basic authoring assistance for help when writing Markdown, and a preview feature, so that you can see what the Markdown looks like in the style of the docs.microsoft.com site.

Visit this marketplace page and select Install, or search for docsmsft.docs-authoring-pack in your extensions list in the VS Code window.

Install Additional Tools For Xcode Windows

The Docs Authoring Pack is accessible by pressing Alt+M inside of VS Code. The toolbar is hidden by default but can be shown. Edit the VS Code settings (Control+comma) and adding user setting 'markdown.showToolbar': true to show the toolbar.

For more information, see the Docs Authoring Pack page.

Next steps

Install Additional Tools For Xcode Tutorial

Now you are ready to Set up a local Git repository.