Install

Use a complete SDK with bin/, src/, and the tools. Standard-library sources are required to compile imports; placing a renamed compiler on PATH alone does not provide a complete development environment.

Native Installers (Recommended)

Xu provides standalone native Setup installer packages (zero Python, bash, or third-party dependencies) that configure persistent global environment variables so xu is immediately usable in any terminal across the system:

Operating System	Recommended Package	Details
Windows	Download `xu-v0.8.8-windows-x64-setup.exe` or `xu-setup-windows-x64.exe`	Self-contained offline installer. Double-click to launch the native GUI wizard (no WebView2 required) or execute `.\xu-setup-windows-x64.exe -y` in terminal. Automatically configures registry user `Path` and `XU_ROOT`.
macOS	Download `xu-v0.8.8-macos-arm64.pkg` or `xu-setup-macos-arm64`	Native macOS GUI package installer. Automatically installs to `/usr/local/xu` and sets up `/etc/paths.d/xu` for system-wide availability. Standalone unprivileged `xu-setup-macos-arm64` CLI installer is also available.
Linux	Download `xu-setup-linux-x64` or `xu-setup-linux-arm64`	Native binary installer. Run `chmod +x xu-setup-linux-x64 && ./xu-setup-linux-x64 -y` to automatically extract the SDK and configure Shell profile environment paths.

Offline SDK Archive Installation

If you downloaded a full SDK archive (.tar.gz on Unix or .zip on Windows) from the Download page or GitHub Releases, the native installer is bundled directly at the root:

# Windows: Double-click xu-setup.exe in File Explorer, or in terminal:
.\xu-setup.exe -y

# macOS / Linux: Run xu-setup directly in the extracted directory:
./xu-setup -y

The default installation directory is ~/.xu (macOS .pkg defaults to /usr/local/xu). Use --prefix /custom/path to customize the target directory. In automated CI pipelines, you may also use ./install.sh or .\install.ps1; for temporary evaluation, run source env.sh (or . .\env.ps1 in PowerShell).

Verify Global Environment

After installation, open a new terminal window (CMD, PowerShell, Terminal, or VS Code integrated terminal) and verify that the toolchain is globally active:

xu --version
xu env
xu doctor

Targets

System	`--target`	Default artifact	Details
macOS	`macos-arm64`, `macos-x64`	Mach-O, no suffix	Apple Silicon and Intel architectures
Linux	`linux-arm64`, `linux-x64`, `linux-loongarch64`, `linux-riscv64`, `linux-arm32`	ELF, no suffix	Mainstream servers, LoongArch, and embedded Linux
Windows	`windows-x64`, `windows-arm64`	PE, `.exe`	64-bit x86 and ARM64 native executables
WebAssembly	`wasm32`	Wasm binary, `.wasm`	Interactive browser sandboxes, edge runtimes, and WASI/embedded containers
Bare metal	`thumbv7em-none`, `riscv32imac-none`	Bare-metal firmware binary	OS-less embedded microcontrollers

A supported target does not imply a published SDK asset or support for every library and desktop feature. See Status & Limitations.

Update an installation

Run xu up or xu update to directly download and install the official Release package for your system from GitHub. xu up --check checks for available updates without installing, and xu update --version <version> selects a specific version. Tools and the standard library are replaced after download and verification succeed. See CLI for options.

Verify compilation

xu check hello.xu
xu run hello.xu
xu build hello.xu --output hello

macOS / Linux executables already have execute permission. In PowerShell, prefer --output for output paths.

Environment and source builds

XU_ROOT selects the SDK or compiler checkout; XU_STDLIB_ROOT explicitly selects its src/. XUPATH adds search roots and does not replace external-module require: declarations. Keep xu-fmt, xu-doc, xu-map, xu-doctor, and xu-desktop beside xu in bin.

Sources are in the xu repository. make xu self-hosts with an existing hosted product seed and rebuilds the tools. A clean checkout requires a product seed and the bootstrap companion repository first. packages, examples, and vscode are maintained separately.