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Installation

Requirements

  • Python 3.12 or newer.
  • uv.
  • A runtime to run environments in. See below.

Install Karotte

uv tool install karotte
karotte --version
karotte --help

This installs the karotte command you use to create environments.

Runtime prerequisites

karotte run and karotte build pick a runtime based on your system or you can select one via the --runtime option.

Platform Default runtime What you need
macOS 26+ on Apple silicon apple-container Apple container 1.4.1 or newer, started with container system start.
Linux x86_64 or aarch64 with /dev/kvm firecracker Membership in the kvm group, docker with buildx (it builds the image), and pasta (package passt).
Everything else docker docker with buildx.

You can always explicitly use docker with --runtime docker, or podman with --runtime podman, instead. Ubuntu's docker.io package lacks buildx; install docker-buildx too.

If the default VM runtime isn't set up, Karotte stops before the run and tells you what's missing.

See Runtimes for the full setup of each runtime and what it gives the student.

Next steps

  • Quick start: create an environment and run its example task.
  • Concepts: what environments, tasks, steps and judges are.