> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://prefect-bd373955-pytest-markdown.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Install Prefect

Prefect is published as a Python package, which requires Python 3.9 or newer. We recommend installing Prefect in a Python virtual environment.

You also need an API server, either

* [Prefect Cloud](/3.0rc/manage/cloud/), a managed solution that provides strong scaling, performance, and security, or
* Your own hosted [Prefect server instance](/3.0rc/manage/self-host/)

## Install with pip

Install Prefect.

```bash
pip install -U prefect --pre
```

Learn more about release versions in the [Prefect Release Notes](https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/blob/main/RELEASE-NOTES.md).

See our [Contributing guide](/contribute/dev-contribute/) for instructions on installing Prefect for development.

## Check your installation

To confirm that Prefect was installed successfully, run:

```bash
prefect version
```

You should see output similar to:

```bash
Version:             3.0.0
API version:         0.8.4
Python version:      3.12.2
Git commit:          d6bdb075
Built:               Thu, Apr 11, 2024 6:58 PM
OS/Arch:             darwin/arm64
Profile:              local
Server type:         ephemeral
Server:
  Database:          sqlite
  SQLite version:    3.45.2
```

## Windows installation

You can install and run Prefect via Windows PowerShell, the Windows Command Prompt, or [conda](https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/install/windows.html). After installation, you may need to manually add the Python local packages `Scripts` folder to your `Path` environment variable.

The `Scripts` folder path looks something like:

```bash
C:\Users\MyUserNameHere\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.11_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python311\Scripts
```

Review the `pip install` output messages for the `Scripts` folder path on your system.

## Minimal Prefect installation

The `prefect-client` library is a minimal installation of Prefect designed for interacting with Prefect Cloud or a remote self-hosted server instance.

`prefect-client` enables a subset of Prefect's functionality with a smaller installation size, making it ideal for use in lightweight, resource-constrained, or ephemeral environments.
It omits all CLI and server components found in the `prefect` library.

To install the latest release of `prefect-client`, run:

```bash
pip install -U prefect-client
```

## Next steps

Now that you have Prefect installed, go through the [quickstart](/3.0rc/get-started/quickstart/) to try it out.