User install instructions

Cross-platform options

Docker linux macos windows

See our docker installation instructions.

conda-forge install linux macos

You can install NEST with the Conda forge package.

Live media linux macos windows

We have live media (.ova) if you want to run NEST in a virtual machine.

Download the live media here, and follow the instructions to set up the virtual machine .

Linux linux

Ubuntu

Ubuntu users can install NEST via the PPA repository.

  1. Add the PPA repository for NEST and update apt:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nest-simulator/nest
sudo apt-get update

  1. Install NEST:

sudo apt-get install nest

Or install NEST with NESTML

sudo apt install nest python3-nestml
python3 -m pip install --upgrade odetoolbox pygsl antlr4-python3-runtime==4.10

  1. Set the environment

source /usr/bin/nest_vars.sh

macOS macos

  1. Install Homebrew.

  2. Install NEST via:

brew install nest

Options for Windows users windows

Please note that NEST does not officially support Windows. Members of our community have had success using NEST on Windows with the Windows Subsystem for Linux. You can also try our docker container.