Installation

If you are new to Encore, we recommend following the quick start guide.

Install the Encore CLI

To develop locally with Encore, you first need to install the Encore CLI. This is what provisions your local development environment, and runs your Local Development Dashboard complete with logs, tracing, and API documentation.

To locally run Encore apps with databases, you also need to have Docker installed and running.

Optional: Add AI/LLM instructions

To help AI coding assistants (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, etc.) understand how to use Encore, run this from your app directory:

encore llm-rules init

This prompts you to select your tool and generates the appropriate config (e.g. .cursorrules, CLAUDE.md) and MCP setup where supported. For full details and other options, see AI Tools Integration.

Build from source

If you prefer to build from source, follow these instructions.

Update to the latest version

Check which version of Encore you have installed by running encore version in your terminal. It should print something like:

encore version v1.28.0

If you think you're on an older version of Encore, you can easily update to the latest version by running encore version update from your terminal.