Installation

Install icp-cli on macOS, Linux, or Windows.

macOS / Linux / WSL

Homebrew (macOS):

brew install dfinity/tap/icp-cli

To update later: brew upgrade dfinity/tap/icp-cli

Curl installer:

# install icp-cli
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/dfinity/icp-cli/releases/download/v0.1.0-beta.3/icp-cli-installer.sh | sh

# install ic-wasm which is a dependency for many recipes
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/dfinity/ic-wasm/releases/download/0.9.10/ic-wasm-installer.sh | sh

The installer adds icp-cli to your PATH automatically. Restart your shell or run the source command shown by the installer.

Windows

# install icp-cli
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -c "irm https://github.com/dfinity/icp-cli/releases/download/v0.1.0-beta.3/icp-cli-installer.ps1 | iex"

# install ic-wasm which is a dependency for many recipes
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -c "irm https://github.com/dfinity/ic-wasm/releases/download/v0.9.11/ic-wasm-installer.ps1 | iex"

The installer adds icp-cli to your PATH automatically. Restart your shell (and if it’s inside another program, e.g. the VS Code embedded shell, restart that program too).

Docker requirement: If you want to run a local test network, you’ll need Docker Desktop. Docker is only required for local networks—you can build canisters and deploy to mainnet without it.

Verify Installation

icp --version

Language Toolchains

icp-cli uses your language’s compiler to build canisters. Install what you need:

Rust canisters:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

Motoko canisters:

npm install -g ic-mops
mops toolchain init

Troubleshooting

“command not found: icp” (after curl install)

The binary isn’t in your PATH. Add this to your shell config (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.):

export PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"

Then restart your shell or run source ~/.bashrc (or ~/.zshrc).

“Cannot connect to Docker” (Windows)

On Windows, Docker Desktop must be running before starting a local network. Ensure:

• Docker Desktop is installed and running
• For manual dockerd setup with WSL2, see the containerized networks guide

Network launcher download fails

The network launcher downloads automatically on first use. If it fails:

• Check your internet connection
• Try again (transient failures are possible)
• Download manually from icp-cli-network-launcher releases and set ICP_CLI_NETWORK_LAUNCHER_PATH

Next Steps

• Tutorial — Deploy your first canister
• Local Development — Day-to-day workflow

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