# Installation


# Requirements

RECAP requires Python 3.10 or newer. Nothing else is needed for local use: the default install uses SQLite, which ships with Python.


# Install

``` bash
pip install pyrecap
```

That is everything you need to work with a local database, which is what the rest of this guide uses.

> **Warning: Pin your version**
>
> RECAP is beta software. The public API and the stored data format may change without warning between releases, and such changes may not be backward compatible. For anything beyond experimentation, pin an exact version:
>
> ``` bash
> pip install "pyrecap==0.0.1b2"
> ```
>
> Check the installed version with `python -c "import recap; print(recap.__version__)"`.


# Server support

You only need this if you intend to *run* a RECAP server. Connecting to someone else's RECAP server needs nothing beyond the base install.

``` bash
pip install "pyrecap[server]"
```

The `server` extra adds FastAPI, Uvicorn, PostgreSQL support, and the configuration dependencies used by the `recap-server` command.


# Verify

``` bash
python -c "import recap; print(recap.__version__)"
```

If that prints a version number instead of a traceback, you are ready.


# Check it can write a database

This creates a file called `check.db` in the current directory and then removes it. It confirms that RECAP can create and migrate a database on your system.

``` bash
python -c "
from recap import RecapClient
with RecapClient.from_sqlite('check.db') as client:
    client.create_namespace('check')
    print('ok')
"
rm check.db
```

[from_sqlite()](../../reference/RecapClient.md#recap.RecapClient.from_sqlite) creates the database file if it does not exist and applies any pending schema migrations if it does.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next: [the five ideas RECAP is built from](../../docs/getting-started/core-concepts.md).