{"title":"Installation","description":"That feeling you get when that right tool did all the work","section":"guides","version":"v1.5","path":"guides/installation","canonical_url":"https://amberframework.org/docs/v1.5/guides/installation","markdown_url":"https://amberframework.org/docs/v1.5/guides/installation.md","inherited":false,"content_markdown":"# Installation\n\nThe Amber CLI offers you a set of command line tools to **create**, **generate**, **scaffold** and **run** your projects quickly and simply.\n\n## Linux\n\nEnsure you have the necessary dependencies:\n\n* **Git:** Use your platform specific package manager to install `git`\n* **Crystal:** Follow the instructions to get `crystal` on this page: [Crystal Installation](https://crystal-lang.org/install/)\n* **NodeJS and Webpack:** `node` is an optional dependency and is used to compile JavaScript and other assets.\n* **PostgreSQL:** `postgres` is a relational database server. Amber configures applications to use this database adapter by default, but you can switch to MySQL by passing the flag `--database mysql` when creating a new application.\n\nOnce you have these dependencies, You can build the `amber` tool from source:\n\n### From Source\n\nDownload and install `amber`\n\n**Release note:** Amber `v1.5.0`, published August 1, 2026, is the current stable\nframework release. These instructions preserve the Amber 1.x toolchain; use the\n[V2 installation guide](/docs/v2/getting-started/installation) for the separate\nAmber CLI and V2 web template.\n\n```bash\nsudo apt-get install libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev libpq-dev libmysqlclient-dev libssl-dev libyaml-dev libpcre3-dev libevent-dev\ngit clone https://github.com/amberframework/amber.git\ncd amber\ngit checkout v1.5.0\nshards install\nmake\nsudo make install\n```\n\nIf you run into an issue on compilation regarding `Unhandled exception in spawn: fork: Cannot allocate memory` it means you don't have enough memory. This can easily be solved by adding a swapfile.\n\n```bash\nsudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=2k count=1024k\nsudo mkswap /swapfile\nsudo chmod 600 /swapfile\nsudo swapon /swapfile\n```\n\n### For Debian & Ubuntu\n\n* Currently, the only method to install on Debian based distros is to compile from source.\n* These are necessary to compile the CLI:\n* `sudo apt-get install build-essential libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev libpq-dev libmysqlclient-dev libssl-dev libyaml-dev`\n\n### For RedHat & CentOS\n\n* `sudo yum groupinstall development tools`\n* `sudo yum install readline-devel sqlite-devel openssl-devel libyaml-devel gc-devel libevent-devel`\n\n### For ArchLinux & derivates\n\n* Install the CLI from [AUR package](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/amber/). Dependencies are automatically installed.\n* `yaourt -S amber`\n\nYou should now be able to run `amber` in the command line.\n\n## macOS\n\nInstalling Amber with these package managers also installs Crystal.\n\n- Homebrew\n\n  ```text\n  brew tap amberframework/amber\n  brew install amber\n  ```\n\n- MacPorts\n\n  ```text\n  sudo port selfupdate\n  sudo port install amber\n  ```\n\n### From source\n\nKnown problems while trying to build Amber from source on macOS:\n\n- If you see linker problems, such as `ld: library not found for -lssl (this usually means you need to install the development package for libssl)`, you\n  may need to set some (or all) of those environment variables:\n\n  ```text\n  export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=\"/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib/pkgconfig\"\n  export LDFLAGS=\"-L/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib\"\n  export CPPFLAGS=\"-I/usr/local/opt/openssl/include\"\n  ```"}