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<h1 id="installing-helix"><a class="header" href="#installing-helix">Installing Helix</a></h1>
<!--toc:start-->
<ul>
<li><a href="#pre-built-binaries">Pre-built binaries</a></li>
<li><a href="#linux-macos-windows-and-openbsd-packaging-status">Linux, macOS, Windows and OpenBSD packaging status</a></li>
<li><a href="#linux">Linux</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#ubuntu">Ubuntu</a></li>
<li><a href="#fedorarhel">Fedora/RHEL</a></li>
<li><a href="#arch-linux-extra">Arch Linux extra</a></li>
<li><a href="#nixos">NixOS</a></li>
<li><a href="#flatpak">Flatpak</a></li>
<li><a href="#snap">Snap</a></li>
<li><a href="#appimage">AppImage</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#macos">macOS</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#homebrew-core">Homebrew Core</a></li>
<li><a href="#macports">MacPorts</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#windows">Windows</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#winget">Winget</a></li>
<li><a href="#scoop">Scoop</a></li>
<li><a href="#chocolatey">Chocolatey</a></li>
<li><a href="#msys2">MSYS2</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#building-from-source">Building from source</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#configuring-helixs-runtime-files">Configuring Helix's runtime files</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#linux-and-macos">Linux and macOS</a></li>
<li><a href="#windows">Windows</a></li>
<li><a href="#multiple-runtime-directories">Multiple runtime directories</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#validating-the-installation">Validating the installation</a></li>
<li><a href="#configure-the-desktop-shortcut">Configure the desktop shortcut</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<!--toc:end-->
<p>To install Helix, follow the instructions specific to your operating system.
Note that:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>To get the latest nightly version of Helix, you need to
<a href="#building-from-source">build from source</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>To take full advantage of Helix, install the language servers for your
preferred programming languages. See the
<a href="https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/wiki/How-to-install-the-default-language-servers">wiki</a>
for instructions.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="pre-built-binaries"><a class="header" href="#pre-built-binaries">Pre-built binaries</a></h2>
<p>Download pre-built binaries from the
<a href="https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/releases">GitHub Releases page</a>. Add the binary to your system's <code>$PATH</code> to use it from the command
line.</p>
<h2 id="linux-macos-windows-and-openbsd-packaging-status"><a class="header" href="#linux-macos-windows-and-openbsd-packaging-status">Linux, macOS, Windows and OpenBSD packaging status</a></h2>
<p><a href="https://repology.org/project/helix/versions"><img src="https://repology.org/badge/vertical-allrepos/helix.svg" alt="Packaging status" /></a></p>
<h2 id="linux"><a class="header" href="#linux">Linux</a></h2>
<p>The following third party repositories are available:</p>
<h3 id="ubuntu"><a class="header" href="#ubuntu">Ubuntu</a></h3>
<p>Add the <code>PPA</code> for Helix:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maveonair/helix-editor
sudo apt update
sudo apt install helix
</code></pre>
<h3 id="fedorarhel"><a class="header" href="#fedorarhel">Fedora/RHEL</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-sh">sudo dnf install helix
</code></pre>
<h3 id="arch-linux-extra"><a class="header" href="#arch-linux-extra">Arch Linux extra</a></h3>
<p>Releases are available in the <code>extra</code> repository:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">sudo pacman -S helix
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 When installed from the <code>extra</code> repository, run Helix with <code>helix</code> instead of <code>hx</code>.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">helix --health
</code></pre>
<p>to check health</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Additionally, a <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/helix-git/">helix-git</a> package is available
in the AUR, which builds the master branch.</p>
<h3 id="nixos"><a class="header" href="#nixos">NixOS</a></h3>
<p>Helix is available in <a href="https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs">nixpkgs</a> through the <code>helix</code> attribute,
the unstable channel usually carries the latest release.</p>
<p>Helix is also available as a <a href="https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Flakes">flake</a> in the project
root. Use <code>nix develop</code> to spin up a reproducible development shell. Outputs are
cached for each push to master using <a href="https://www.cachix.org/">Cachix</a>. The
flake is configured to automatically make use of this cache assuming the user
accepts the new settings on first use.</p>
<p>If you are using a version of Nix without flakes enabled,
<a href="https://docs.cachix.org/installation">install Cachix CLI</a> and use
<code>cachix use helix</code> to configure Nix to use cached outputs when possible.</p>
<h3 id="flatpak"><a class="header" href="#flatpak">Flatpak</a></h3>
<p>Helix is available on <a href="https://flathub.org/en-GB/apps/com.helix_editor.Helix">Flathub</a>:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">flatpak install flathub com.helix_editor.Helix
flatpak run com.helix_editor.Helix
</code></pre>
<h3 id="snap"><a class="header" href="#snap">Snap</a></h3>
<p>Helix is available on <a href="https://snapcraft.io/helix">Snapcraft</a> and can be installed with:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">snap install --classic helix
</code></pre>
<p>This will install Helix as both <code>/snap/bin/helix</code> and <code>/snap/bin/hx</code>, so make sure <code>/snap/bin</code> is in your <code>PATH</code>.</p>
<h3 id="appimage"><a class="header" href="#appimage">AppImage</a></h3>
<p>Install Helix using the Linux <a href="https://appimage.org/">AppImage</a> format.
Download the official Helix AppImage from the <a href="https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/releases/latest">latest releases</a> page.</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">chmod +x helix-*.AppImage # change permission for executable mode
./helix-*.AppImage # run helix
</code></pre>
<h2 id="macos"><a class="header" href="#macos">macOS</a></h2>
<h3 id="homebrew-core"><a class="header" href="#homebrew-core">Homebrew Core</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-sh">brew install helix
</code></pre>
<h3 id="macports"><a class="header" href="#macports">MacPorts</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-sh">port install helix
</code></pre>
<h2 id="windows"><a class="header" href="#windows">Windows</a></h2>
<p>Install on Windows using <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/winget/">Winget</a>, <a href="https://scoop.sh/">Scoop</a>, <a href="https://chocolatey.org/">Chocolatey</a>
or <a href="https://msys2.org/">MSYS2</a>.</p>
<h3 id="winget"><a class="header" href="#winget">Winget</a></h3>
<p>Windows Package Manager winget command-line tool is by default available on Windows 11 and modern versions of Windows 10 as a part of the App Installer.
You can get <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/p/app-installer/9nblggh4nns1#activetab=pivot:overviewtab">App Installer from the Microsoft Store</a>. If it's already installed, make sure it is updated with the latest version.</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">winget install Helix.Helix
</code></pre>
<h3 id="scoop"><a class="header" href="#scoop">Scoop</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-sh">scoop install helix
</code></pre>
<h3 id="chocolatey"><a class="header" href="#chocolatey">Chocolatey</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-sh">choco install helix
</code></pre>
<h3 id="msys2"><a class="header" href="#msys2">MSYS2</a></h3>
<p>For 64-bit Windows 8.1 or above:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-helix
</code></pre>
<h2 id="building-from-source"><a class="header" href="#building-from-source">Building from source</a></h2>
<p>Requirements:</p>
<p>Clone the Helix GitHub repository into a directory of your choice. The
examples in this documentation assume installation into either <code>~/src/</code> on
Linux and macOS, or <code>%userprofile%\src\</code> on Windows.</p>
<ul>
<li>The <a href="https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install">Rust toolchain</a></li>
<li>The <a href="https://git-scm.com/">Git version control system</a></li>
<li>A C++14 compatible compiler to build the tree-sitter grammars, for example GCC or Clang</li>
</ul>
<p>If you are using the <code>musl-libc</code> standard library instead of <code>glibc</code> the following environment variable must be set during the build to ensure tree-sitter grammars can be loaded correctly:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">RUSTFLAGS="-C target-feature=-crt-static"
</code></pre>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Clone the repository:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">git clone https://github.com/helix-editor/helix
cd helix
</code></pre>
</li>
<li>
<p>Compile from source:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">cargo install --path helix-term --locked
</code></pre>
<p>This command will create the <code>hx</code> executable and construct the tree-sitter
grammars in the local <code>runtime</code> folder.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 If you do not want to fetch or build grammars, set an environment variable <code>HELIX_DISABLE_AUTO_GRAMMAR_BUILD</code></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 Tree-sitter grammars can be fetched and compiled if not pre-packaged. Fetch
grammars with <code>hx --grammar fetch</code> and compile them with
<code>hx --grammar build</code>. This will install them in
the <code>runtime</code> directory within the user's helix config directory (more
<a href="#multiple-runtime-directories">details below</a>).</p>
</blockquote>
<h3 id="configuring-helixs-runtime-files"><a class="header" href="#configuring-helixs-runtime-files">Configuring Helix's runtime files</a></h3>
<h4 id="linux-and-macos"><a class="header" href="#linux-and-macos">Linux and macOS</a></h4>
<p>The <strong>runtime</strong> directory is one below the Helix source, so either export a
<code>HELIX_RUNTIME</code> environment variable to point to that directory and add it to
your <code>~/.bashrc</code> or equivalent:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">export HELIX_RUNTIME=~/src/helix/runtime
</code></pre>
<p>Or, create a symbolic link:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">ln -Ts $PWD/runtime ~/.config/helix/runtime
</code></pre>
<p>If the above command fails to create a symbolic link because the file exists either move <code>~/.config/helix/runtime</code> to a new location or delete it, then run the symlink command above again.</p>
<h4 id="windows-1"><a class="header" href="#windows-1">Windows</a></h4>
<p>Either set the <code>HELIX_RUNTIME</code> environment variable to point to the runtime files using the Windows setting (search for
<code>Edit environment variables for your account</code>) or use the <code>setx</code> command in
Cmd:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">setx HELIX_RUNTIME "%userprofile%\source\repos\helix\runtime"
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 <code>%userprofile%</code> resolves to your user directory like
<code>C:\Users\Your-Name\</code> for example.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Or, create a symlink in <code>%appdata%\helix\</code> that links to the source code directory:</p>
<div class="table-wrapper"><table><thead><tr><th>Method</th><th>Command</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td>PowerShell</td><td><code>New-Item -ItemType Junction -Target "runtime" -Path "$Env:AppData\helix\runtime"</code></td></tr>
<tr><td>Cmd</td><td><code>cd %appdata%\helix</code> <br/> <code>mklink /D runtime "%userprofile%\src\helix\runtime"</code></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<blockquote>
<p>💡 On Windows, creating a symbolic link may require running PowerShell or
Cmd as an administrator.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4 id="multiple-runtime-directories"><a class="header" href="#multiple-runtime-directories">Multiple runtime directories</a></h4>
<p>When Helix finds multiple runtime directories it will search through them for files in the
following order:</p>
<ol>
<li><code>runtime/</code> sibling directory to <code>$CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR</code> directory (this is intended for
developing and testing helix only).</li>
<li><code>runtime/</code> subdirectory of OS-dependent helix user config directory.</li>
<li><code>$HELIX_RUNTIME</code></li>
<li>Distribution-specific fallback directory (set at compile time—not run time—
with the <code>HELIX_DEFAULT_RUNTIME</code> environment variable)</li>
<li><code>runtime/</code> subdirectory of path to Helix executable.</li>
</ol>
<p>This order also sets the priority for selecting which file will be used if multiple runtime
directories have files with the same name.</p>
<h4 id="note-to-packagers"><a class="header" href="#note-to-packagers">Note to packagers</a></h4>
<p>If you are making a package of Helix for end users, to provide a good out of
the box experience, you should set the <code>HELIX_DEFAULT_RUNTIME</code> environment
variable at build time (before invoking <code>cargo build</code>) to a directory which
will store the final runtime files after installation. For example, say you want
to package the runtime into <code>/usr/lib/helix/runtime</code>. The rough steps a build
script could follow are:</p>
<ol>
<li><code>export HELIX_DEFAULT_RUNTIME=/usr/lib/helix/runtime</code></li>
<li><code>cargo build --profile opt --locked --path helix-term</code></li>
<li><code>cp -r runtime $BUILD_DIR/usr/lib/helix/</code></li>
<li><code>cp target/opt/hx $BUILD_DIR/usr/bin/hx</code></li>
</ol>
<p>This way the resulting <code>hx</code> binary will always look for its runtime directory in
<code>/usr/lib/helix/runtime</code> if the user has no custom runtime in <code>~/.config/helix</code>
or <code>HELIX_RUNTIME</code>.</p>
<h3 id="validating-the-installation"><a class="header" href="#validating-the-installation">Validating the installation</a></h3>
<p>To make sure everything is set up as expected you should run the Helix health
check:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">hx --health
</code></pre>
<p>For more information on the health check results refer to
<a href="https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/wiki/Healthcheck">Health check</a>.</p>
<h3 id="configure-the-desktop-shortcut"><a class="header" href="#configure-the-desktop-shortcut">Configure the desktop shortcut</a></h3>
<p>If your desktop environment supports the
<a href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/menu-spec-latest.html">XDG desktop menu</a>
you can configure Helix to show up in the application menu by copying the
provided <code>.desktop</code> and icon files to their correct folders:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">cp contrib/Helix.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
cp contrib/helix.png ~/.icons # or ~/.local/share/icons
</code></pre>
<p>To use another terminal than the system default, you can modify the <code>.desktop</code>
file. For example, to use <code>kitty</code>:</p>
<pre><code class="language-sh">sed -i "s|Exec=hx %F|Exec=kitty hx %F|g" ~/.local/share/applications/Helix.desktop
sed -i "s|Terminal=true|Terminal=false|g" ~/.local/share/applications/Helix.desktop
</code></pre>
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