How to install redsun¶

This page shows how to install redsun with the Python tools you already use, and how to pick the optional parts your session needs. If you'd rather follow one path step by step, the tutorials use uv in Installation.

Prerequisites¶

You need Python 3.11 or later.

Create a virtual environment¶

A virtual environment keeps redsun and everything it installs apart from your other Python projects, so their versions can't clash. Create one with the tool you already use, and activate it before you install:

uv venv --python 3.11

# For Linux/macOS
source .venv/bin/activate

# For Windows Command Prompt
.venv\Scripts\activate.bat

# For Windows PowerShell
.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

# uses the Python you run this command with
python -m venv redsun-env

# For Linux/macOS
source redsun-env/bin/activate

# For Windows Command Prompt
redsun-env\Scripts\activate.bat

# For Windows PowerShell
redsun-env\Scripts\Activate.ps1

conda create -n redsun-env python=3.11
conda activate redsun-env

mamba create -n redsun-env python=3.11
mamba activate redsun-env

Choose the extras¶

redsun is on PyPI. On its own it installs what a session without a window needs. Everything else is an extra: an optional part with its own dependencies, which you name in square brackets in the install command, such as redsun[pyqt]. Pick your installer and the parts you want, and copy the command. Each button says which extra it adds, what it is for, and what it installs:

The guides for the optional parts are writing a derived product, keeping a catalog of runs, testing a plugin and profiling a session. The two development extras belong in your project's development dependencies, not in what it needs to run.

For a session with a window, install one of the two Qt extras. pyqt and pyside install the PyQt6 and PySide6 bindings, and redsun works with either through qtpy. A headless session, with no window, needs neither.

Check the installation¶

With the environment still active, run:

python -c "import redsun; print(redsun.__version__)"

If redsun is installed, this prints its version.

To change redsun itself, see How to contribute.