Installation
There are three ways to get the Newt compiler on your machine.
Option 1: Install via Cargo (recommended)
If you have the Rust toolchain installed, this is the fastest path.
cargo install newter-compiler
This builds the compiler from source and places the newter-compiler binary in your Cargo bin directory (usually ~/.cargo/bin/).
System requirements
- Rust 1.75 or later (install from rustup.rs)
- A C linker (gcc, clang, or MSVC depending on your platform)
Option 2: Download a pre-built binary
Grab the latest release for your platform from GitHub.
| Platform | Architecture | Download link |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | x86_64 | newter-compiler-linux-x86_64 |
| macOS | ARM64 | newter-compiler-macos-arm64 |
| macOS | x86_64 | newter-compiler-macos-x86_64 |
| Windows | x86_64 | newter-compiler-windows-x86_64.exe |
After downloading, make the binary executable (Linux/macOS) and move it to a directory on your PATH:
chmod +x newter-compiler-linux-x86_64
sudo mv newter-compiler-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/newter-compiler
Option 3: VS Code extension
The Newt extension for VS Code provides syntax highlighting, diagnostics, completions, and hover information for .newt files.
Install it from the VS Code marketplace:
code --install-extension voxmastery.newt
Or open VS Code, go to the Extensions panel, and search for Newt.
The extension bundles the Newt LSP server, so you get full language support without any additional setup.
Verify your installation
Run the help command to confirm everything is working:
newter-compiler --help
You should see the list of available commands including serve, build, check, and watch.
Next steps
Once installed, head to the Getting Started guide to create your first Newt program, or jump straight to the Language Overview to learn the syntax.