Set Up Development Environment¶

This tutorial explains how to install the SDK in a new virtual environment, or an existing Python environment.

Create a Python virtualenv (Recommended)¶

Important

It’s highly recommended to use a virtualenv to minimize installation issues and avoid impacting your existing Python environment. However, you can skip this step if you’d like to use an existing Python environment.

Ensure that you have Python (3.12+) installed, then run the following command to create a virtualenv:

macOS/Linux

python -m venv my-venv

Windows

py -m venv my-venv

After creating your virtualenv, activate it by running:

macOS/Linux

source my-venv/bin/activate

Windows

.\my-venv\Scripts\activate

Once you’ve completed the example program, you can exit the virtualenv with deactivate.

Install the Python SDK¶

Note

If you skipped creating a virtualenv, you may need to substitute python3 instead python for the commands in this guide.

The Luminary Cloud Python SDK is distributed as a Python wheel and can be downloaded here.

Navigate to the folder that you downloaded the wheel file to and install it with:

macOS/Linux

python -m pip install <downloaded whl file>

Windows

py -m pip install <downloaded whl file>

Using the virtualenv¶

Now you have a ready-to-use Python virtualenv with the Luminary Cloud SDK installed. A common workflow could be something like:

macOS/Linux

# activate the virtualenv
source my-venv/bin/activate

# run a python script that uses the SDK
python my_first_simulation.py

# deactivate the virtualenv when you're done
deactivate

Windows

# activate the virtualenv
my-venv\Scripts\activate

# run a python script that uses the SDK
py .\my_first_simulation.py

# deactivate the virtualenv when you're done
deactivate

Next Steps¶

For a tutorial on writing your first Python script to run a simulation, click the Next link below.