---
title: Build Nwaku from Source
---

Nwaku offers the option of building a node from the source when you want to access the latest development version or a specific commit of nwaku. If you prefer a more stable version, [download a pre-compiled binary](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku/tags) instead.

:::info
Nwaku can be built and run on Linux and macOS, while Windows support is currently experimental.
:::

## Prerequisites

- 2GB of RAM
- [Git](https://git-scm.com/) or [GitHub Desktop](https://desktop.github.com/)
- [Nim](https://nim-lang.org/) installed on your system

## Install Dependencies

#### Linux

To install the dependencies on common Linux distributions, run the following:

```mdx-code-block
import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
```

<Tabs>
<TabItem value="debian" label="Debian and Ubuntu">

```bash
sudo apt-get install build-essential git
```

</TabItem>
<TabItem value="fedora" label="Fedora">

```bash
dnf install @development-tools
```

</TabItem>
<TabItem value="arch" label="Arch Linux">

```bash
# using your favorite AUR helper
yourAURhelper -S base-devel
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

#### macOS

If you use [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/) to manage packages, run the following:

```bash
brew install cmake
```

## Clone the Repository

Get the source code from the GitHub repository. The default branch is `master`, the release candidate for major updates.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku
cd nwaku
```
:::info
You can use `git tag -l` to check specific version tags.
:::

## Build the Binary

To build the nwaku binary, run the following:

```bash
make wakunode2
```

The first `make` invocation updates all Git submodules. After each `git pull`, run `make update` to keep the submodules updated in the future.

```bash
make update wakunode2
```

## Run the Binary

Nwaku will create the `wakunode2` binary in the `./build/` directory. 

```bash
./build/wakunode2
```

To learn more about running nwaku, please refer to:

- [Run a Nwaku Node](/guides/run-nwaku-node#run-the-node)
- [Run Nwaku in Docker Container](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku/blob/master/docs/operators/docker-quickstart.md)
- [Run Nwaku on DigitalOcean Droplet](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku/blob/master/docs/operators/droplet-quickstart.md)

## Run Test Suite

To run the tests for both `Waku v1` and `Waku v2`, run the following:

```bash
make test
```