> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.beam.cloud/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Installation

## Mac and Linux

This installs the Beam SDK and CLI in your Python environment.

```bash theme={null}
pip install beam-client
```

Beam will create a credentials file in `~/.beam/config.ini`. When you run `beam config create`, your API keys will be saved to this file.

## Homebrew

You can install the CLI separately from the SDK using Homebrew:

```bash theme={null}
brew tap beam-cloud/beam

brew install beam
```

## Windows

You can install Beam on Windows using [Windows Subsystem for Linux](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install) (WSL).

These steps assume you're starting fresh, but note that some systems (e.g. with Docker Desktop) may already have WSL distributions installed.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install WSL with Ubuntu 22.04">
    After installation, you may be prompted to set up a new user for the Ubuntu
    environment: `wsl --install Ubuntu-22.04`
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set WSL Version to 1 (Optional)">
    Only do this if you explicitly need WSL 1. Most users should stick with WSL
    2: `wsl --set-version Ubuntu-22.04 1`
  </Step>

  <Step title="Launch Ubuntu">
    This ensures you’re using the correct distribution (not docker-desktop or
    others): `wsl -d Ubuntu-22.04`
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install pip">
    `sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3-pip -y`
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install Beam SDK">`python3 -m pip install beam-client`</Step>
</Steps>

## Upgrading

Once installed, you can upgrade the CLI by running:

```bash theme={null}
python3 -m pip install --upgrade beam-client
```

## Uninstalling

The Python SDK can be uninstalled using `pip`:

```bash theme={null}
python3 -m pip uninstall beam-client
```