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Installing Particle Tools on Your Host Computer

Particle’s development tools can be installed either on your host computer (like your Mac, Windows PC, or Linux workstation), or directly on a Linux device running Device OS for Linux. This page focuses on installation on your local machine — which is the most common starting point for development.

These tools enable you to build, test, and deploy applications across your Particle-powered microcontrollers or Linux-based edge devices such as Tachyon.

🧰 Prerequisites​

Before installing Particle tools on your host, ensure you have the following:

  • Node.js (LTS recommended) — used by the CLI
  • Git — required for Workbench and cloning sample apps
  • GitHub account — for accessing blueprints, examples, and optionally publishing your own
  • Docker (optional but recommended) — for local container development with Linux apps

💡 We recommend using Visual Studio Code as your primary editor. Particle Workbench is built on top of it.

🧑‍💻 Particle CLI Installation​

The Particle CLI is a command-line tool that allows you to interact with your devices, build and flash firmware, manage containers, and deploy apps to the cloud.

macOS and Linux​

Open a terminal and run:

bash <( curl -sL https://particle.io/install-cli )

This script installs the particle CLI to your user’s ~/bin directory. Ensure that path is in your system $PATH variable to invoke particle globally.

Windows

  1. Download the Windows CLI Installer
  2. Run the installer (no internet connection required)
  3. The CLI will be installed to: %LOCALAPPDATA%\particle (e.g. C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local\particle)

⚠️ The installer will also install Node.js if it is not already present.

Upgrading the CLI

To upgrade an existing CLI installation, use:

particle update-cli

📘 For full CLI reference documentation, visit docs.particle.io

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🧩 Visual Studio Code + Particle Workbench

The Particle Workbench is a Visual Studio Code extension that provides a complete Particle development experience in a modern IDE. It’s perfect for editing code, running builds, pushing firmware, and managing devices — all in one place.

Installation Steps

  1. Install Visual Studio Code
  2. Open VS Code and navigate to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X or click the square icon)
  3. Search for Particle Workbench
  4. Click Install

Workbench provides: • Cross-platform support (MCUs and Linux) • Cloud or local build options • Integrated access to Particle CLI • Device setup and configuration tools

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Next Steps

Once installed: • Try particle login to authenticate • Run particle setup to configure your first device • Explore the Particle Blueprints for ready-to-use apps

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Summary

Tool Installed On Primary Use Particle CLI Host computer Command-line control and deployment Visual Studio Code Host computer Full IDE with Workbench plugin Git / GitHub Host computer Cloning and managing example projects Docker (optional) Host computer Local testing of Linux container apps

✅ You are now ready to start developing on Particle — whether you’re building for a microcontroller or deploying containers to the edge.

👉 To install tools on a device running Device OS for Linux, see the next guide →

Would you like me to create that companion page for on-device installation next?