Prerequisites

Core tools

Tool	Supported version	Used for
.NET SDK	10 or newer	Runtime, C# compilation, CLI
Node.js	18 or newer	Frontend tooling and project creation
npm, pnpm, yarn, or Bun	Current stable	Frontend dependencies

Install the Carbon CLI as a global .NET tool:

dotnet tool install --global DotCarbon.Cli
carbon --version

Upgrade an existing installation with:

dotnet tool update --global DotCarbon.Cli

Desktop prerequisites

macOS

The desktop host uses the system WebKit webview. Xcode Command Line Tools are required for universal launchers, signing, and notarization.

xcode-select --install

Windows

Windows applications use WebView2. Windows 11 includes the Evergreen runtime. Carbon installers can download the bootstrapper or carry an offline installer for older or disconnected systems.

Install WiX 4 before creating .msi packages:

dotnet tool install --global wix --version 4.*

Linux

The desktop host requires GTK 3 and WebKitGTK at runtime. Package names vary by distribution. The CI workflow installs the Ubuntu packages needed for builds and headless smoke tests.

AppImage generation also needs FUSE 2 on many distributions. Carbon can locate or download a matching appimagetool binary.

Mobile prerequisites

Android builds require the .NET Android workload, Android SDK, and a JDK. Carbon discovers JAVA_HOME and the JetBrains Runtime bundled with Android Studio.

dotnet workload install android

iOS builds require macOS, Xcode, and the .NET iOS workload:

dotnet workload install ios
xcodebuild -version
dotnet workload list

The installed iOS workload must support the active Xcode version. carbon doctor reports mismatches before a native build starts.