---
title: Installing and Running XOD
---

Installing and Running XOD
==========================

To work with XOD, you use the XOD integrated development environment (IDE for
short), which comes in two flavors: browser-based and desktop version.

Browser-based IDE
-----------------

You can start the [browser-based XOD IDE](/ide/) simply by visiting the link.
However, because the browser has relatively few permissions to access the
computer’s file system and USB-ports, its capabilities are quite limited.

Notably, you can’t upload your program directly to the board from within your
browser and you won't get the convenient save/load functionality.

However, you can import/export your programs as a single file (known as a
xodball), generate source code that you could copy and paste into an Arduino
IDE, and then upload it to the board via the Arduino IDE.

Desktop IDE
-----------

XOD IDE for desktop requires installing, but provides all features. It works on
Windows, macOS, and Linux. Find a distribution package for your system on
[downloads page](/downloads/).

What’s next
-----------

Once you start XOD IDE, you’ll see the `welcome-to-xod` project open. It’s a
tutorial project split on many small lessons. Follow instuctions in its
comments to learn XOD. There is a [web version of the tutorial](../01-hello/)
if you just want to get shallow understanding.

You’ll need some hardware components to compete the tutorial, here is the
[list of parts](../required-hardware/).