consul/website/source/docs/install/index.html.md

layout	page_title	sidebar_current	description
docs	Install Consul	docs-install-install	Installing Consul is simple. You can download a precompiled binary or compile from source. This page details both methods.

Install Consul

Installing Consul is simple. There are two approaches to installing Consul:

1. Using a precompiled binary

2. Installing from source

Downloading a precompiled binary is easiest, and we provide downloads over TLS along with SHA256 sums to verify the binary. We also distribute a PGP signature with the SHA256 sums that can be verified.

Precompiled Binaries

To install the precompiled binary, download the appropriate package for your system. Consul is currently packaged as a zip file. We do not have any near term plans to provide system packages.

Once the zip is downloaded, unzip it into any directory. The consul binary inside is all that is necessary to run Consul (or consul.exe for Windows). Any additional files, if any, aren't required to run Consul.

Copy the binary to anywhere on your system. If you intend to access it from the command-line, make sure to place it somewhere on your PATH.

Compiling from Source

To compile from source, you will need Go installed and configured properly (including a GOPATH environment variable set), as well as a copy of git in your PATH.

1. Clone the Consul repository from GitHub into your GOPATH:

```shell
$ mkdir -p $GOPATH/src/github.com/hashicorp && cd $!
$ git clone https://github.com/hashicorp/consul.git
$ cd consul
```

1. Bootstrap the project. This will download and compile libraries and tools needed to compile Consul:

```shell
$ make bootstrap
```

1. Build Consul for your current system and put the binary in ./bin/ (relative to the git checkout). The make dev target is just a shortcut that builds consul for only your local build environment (no cross-compiled targets).

```shell
$ make dev
```

Verifying the Installation

To verify Consul is properly installed, run consul -v on your system. You should see help output. If you are executing it from the command line, make sure it is on your PATH or you may get an error about Consul not being found.

$ consul -v