# MonoGame Development Requirements

Depending on the [platform](https://docs.monogame.net/articles/getting_started/platforms.html) that you are targeting, MonoGame has different sets of requirements.

## For desktop platforms

====================

MonoGame requires a minimum of the .NET 8 SDK installation, however .NET9+ is recommended.
You can either install it [independently](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet), or by selecting the ".NET desktop development" workload when installing Visual Studio 2022 (version 17.8 and up required).

If you are targeting WindowsDX, you are also going to need [the DirectX June 2010 runtime](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109) for audio and gamepads to work properly.

When it comes to IDE, [Visual Studio (2022/2026)](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/) and [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) are supported (alternatively, you can work directly from the CLI with your code editor of choice). [JetBrains Rider](https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/) should work but is not officially supported.

Desktop development is possible from any operating system supporting the above mentioned software.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The **UWP** platform is being deprecated as of the `3.8.2` release due to Microsoft reducing/removing support for this deployment mechanism.

## For mobile platforms

====================

MonoGame requires the dotnet workloads for **iOS** or **Android** depending on the target.

In Visual Studio 2022/2026 you can install both by selecting the ".NET Multi-platform App UI Development" workload.
For VSCode, Rider or CLI development, you will need to manually install the [DotNet SDK](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download) and then install the iOS and/or Android workloads using `dotnet workload install maui ios android` (delete either iOS or Android if you are not intending to use).

> [!NOTE]
> **MAUI** is required for either mobile platform as it includes debugging tools needed for mobile applications.

Visual Studio (2022/2026), VSCode and Rider are supported in those contexts.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Mobile development is not possible from Linux.

## For Modern platforms (Vulkan / DX12)

======================================

With the addition of the new development platforms, there are additional dependencies required to support these targets, namely:

* The [Vulkan SDK](https://vulkan.lunarg.com/) required for using Vulkan targets. (Make sure to run the setup script `setup_env.sh` on Mac/Linux)
* The [Java SDK](https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/), min version 17.
* DirectX 12 (Windows Only) should be installed by default, [you can check here](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-install-the-latest-version-of-directx-d1f5ffa5-dae2-246c-91b1-ee1e973ed8c2).

## Building from Source

=======================

If you are intending to build MonoGame from source, there are a few extra build dependencies required:

* The [Premake5](https://premake.github.io/download/) executable, downloaded and added to your machines "Path".

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Make sure to download the "Latest" Premake 5 (`5.0.0-beta7` at time of writing) as earlier versions of Premake will not work.

* (Macos / Linux) Wine (for shader compilation) which can be downloaded from [WineHQ](https://www.winehq.org/) - [See here for more details](https://docs.monogame.net/articles/getting_started/1_setting_up_your_os_for_development_macos.html?tabs=android#setup-wine-for-effect-compilation)

## Using the Binaries releases

==============================

Binaries releases are now available through the [published releases](https://github.com/MonoGame/MonoGame/releases) as optional downloads.

Guidance for using the binaries is available in the [PR request](https://github.com/MonoGame/MonoGame/pull/8959) that added the feature, official documentation is still being worked on.