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Setting Up Development Dependencies on Windows

You will need to install these tools on your machine:

  • Node.js
  • Yarn
  • Python 3
  • Visual C++ Build Tools

Node.js

Let's see if you have the right version of node installed. Open a shell and run this command:

$ node -v

If you see an error about being unable to find node, that probably means you don't have any Node tools installed. You can download Node from the Node.js website, install the package, and restart your shell.

You can verify that your installed version matches the one currently used by GitHub Desktop by looking at our .node-version file. Usually the same major version is enough but if you're running into problems building Desktop please try installing that exact version.

Node.js installation notes:

  • make sure you allow the Node.js installer to add node to the PATH.

I need to use different versions of Node.js in different projects!

We currently support nvm.

Configuring nvm

  1. Install nvm using the instructions here.

  2. Within the Desktop source directory, install the version of Node.js it requires:

$ nvm install
  1. Ensure you are running the right version:
$ nvm use
  1. Verify you have the right version by running node -v again:
$ node -v

If you see any version number, you're good to go.

Yarn

Follow this guide to install a system-level yarn. GitHub Desktop uses a local version of yarn, but it needs a version on your PATH to bootstrap itself.

This is important because yarn uses lock files to pin dependencies. If you find yourself changing packages, this will prevent mismatches in versions between machines.

If you're not familiar with yarn, please read this document to help familiarize yourself with how to do the common package tasks that are relevant to Desktop.

Python

Open a shell and run this command:

$ python --version

If you see the output Python 3.9.x, you're good to go!

If you see an error about being unable to find python, that probably means you don't have Python installed. You can install Python 3.9 from the Python website.

Python installation notes:

  • Let Python install into the default suggested path (c:\Python39), otherwise you'll have to configure node-gyp manually to look at a different path.

  • In case you already have or need to have Python on a different path, set the PYTHON environment variable or npm's python config key to your Python's executable path:

      npm config set python "c:\path\to\python3\python.exe"

  • Ensure the Add python.exe to Path option is selected.

Visual C++ Build Tools

To build native Node modules, you will need a recent version of Visual C++ which can be obtained in several ways:

Visual Studio 2019

If you have an existing installation of VS2019, run the Visual Studio Installer (Tools > Get Tools and Features...) and check that you have the Desktop development with C++ workload included.

Once you've confirmed that, open a shell and run this command to update the configuration of NPM:

$ npm config set msvs_version 2019
$ npm config set msbuild_path "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\[VERSION]\\MSBuild\\Current\\Bin\\MSBuild.exe"

Note: VERSION will be Community, Professional or Enterprise depending on your install.

Visual Studio 2017

If you have an existing installation of VS2017, run the Visual Studio Installer (Tools > Get Tools and Features...) and check that you have the Desktop development with C++ workload included.

Once you've confirmed that, open a shell and run this command to update the configuration of NPM:

$ npm config set msvs_version 2017

Visual C++ Build Tools

If you do not have an existing Visual Studio installation, there is a standalone Visual C++ Build Tools installer available.

After installation open a shell and run this command to update the configuration of NPM:

$ npm config set msvs_version 2019

Troubleshooting

If your local copy gets "stuck" try deleting the folder C:\Users\[Your_User]\AppData\Roaming\GitHub Desktop-dev.

Back to setup

Once you've installed the necessary dependencies, head back to the setup page to finish getting set up.