Pre-requisites¶

In this guide, you will install the two tools every Microbots project needs on your machine. By the end, your laptop will be ready to run any bot safely.

Install
1. Python (the runtime)
2. Docker (the sandboxed execution environment) before running any bot.

Note

You only need Python and Docker installed system-wide on your machine. Microbots itself will be installed into a project-specific Python virtual environment in the next article — so nothing gets added to your system Python.

Step 1 — Installing Python¶

Microbots requires Python 3.10 or later, but below 3.13.

Info

Python 3.13 compatibility issue fix is in progress — we will update the page once we fix the issue.

Pick your OS:

OS Install

Linux

Ubuntu / Debian:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv

Fedora:

sudo dnf install python3 python3-pip

Windows

Run inside a WSL 2 distribution (e.g. Ubuntu on WSL):

sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv

Or use the official Windows installer if you must install on Windows directly.

macOS

Use Homebrew:

brew install python@3.12

Or download from python.org.

Verify the installation — run on macOS, WSL on Windows, or Linux:

Terminal

python3 --version
pip3 --version

Confirm the version is at least 3.10 and below 3.13.

Step 2 — Installing Docker¶

Pick your OS:

OS	Install	Notes
Linux	Docker Engine installation guide	After installing, run: `sudo systemctl enable --now docker sudo usermod -aG docker $USER newgrp docker` This starts the daemon, adds your user to the `docker` group, and activates it in the current shell. Without it, bots fail with `PermissionError` on `/var/run/docker.sock`.
Windows	Docker Desktop for Windows	Enable the WSL 2 backend during setup, then run Microbots from inside a WSL 2 Linux distribution (e.g. Ubuntu on WSL). Running bot scripts directly from PowerShell or CMD is not supported. A dedicated Windows + WSL guide will be added later.
macOS	Docker Desktop	Install and launch it. No extra commands needed.

Verify the installation — run on macOS, WSL on Windows, or Linux:

Terminal

docker --version
docker ps              # should succeed without sudo (on Linux)
docker run hello-world

A "Hello from Docker!" message confirms the daemon is reachable.

That's it — with Python and Docker installed, your machine is ready to run Microbots in an isolated sandbox. Continue with the Project Setup and Microbots Installation guide to set up your first project.