# Installation


# Requirements

Labrat requires Python 3.10 or later and `pip`.


# Install from PyPI

``` bash
pip install pylabrat
```

An isolated environment keeps Labrat and its dependencies separate from the system Python installation:

``` bash
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install pylabrat
```


# Install from source

``` bash
git clone https://github.com/sdhutchins/labrat.git
cd labrat
pip install .
```

Use an editable installation while developing Labrat:

``` bash
pip install -e .
```


# Verify the installation

``` bash
labrat --help
labrat query --help
```

Confirm that the Python package is available in the same environment:

``` bash
python -c "import labrat; print(labrat.__file__)"
```


# Local state

Project and file-management features use `~/.labrat/` for configuration and logs. The project manager creates `~/.labrat/config.json` when it first needs the project list.


# Build the documentation

Great Docs requires Python 3.11 or later and a separate Quarto installation. Install the documentation dependencies and build the site from the repository root:

``` bash
pip install -e ".[docs]"
great-docs build
```

The generated site is written to `great-docs/_site/`. Preview it locally with:

``` bash
great-docs preview
```

The source pages live in `docs/`. Great Docs regenerates `great-docs/` during each build, and the directory remains outside version control.