Download Positron

Download and install Positron for Windows, macOS, or Linux. Free data science IDE supporting Python and R, with prerequisites, setup instructions, and automatic updates.

Download the desktop installer for your platform. Most systems need nothing else, but you can check the prerequisites to be sure.

All platforms

macOS 11.0+

Apple Silicon
(M-series)

976M

Intel

1005M

Windows

x64 (Windows 10+)

User install

506M

System install

506M

ARM64 (Windows 11)

User install

496M

System install

496M

Linux

x64

.deb (Ubuntu, Debian)

540M

.rpm (Red Hat, Fedora)

613M

ARM64

.deb (Ubuntu, Debian)

506M

.rpm (Red Hat, Fedora)

574M

SHA-256 checksums
Platform Installer Size SHA-256
Windows 10, 11 x64 (system level install) Positron-2026.10.0-297-Setup-x64.exe 506M d86e197
Windows 10, 11 x64 (user level install) Positron-2026.10.0-297-UserSetup-x64.exe 506M 40a97f7
Windows 11 arm64 (system level install) Positron-2026.10.0-297-Setup-arm64.exe 496M 036dddf
Windows 11 arm64 (user level install) Positron-2026.10.0-297-UserSetup-arm64.exe 496M 339ef11
MacOS 11.0+ (arm64/Apple Silicon) Positron-2026.10.0-297-arm64.dmg 976M 544e55a
MacOS 11.0+ (x64/Intel) Positron-2026.10.0-297-x64.dmg 1005M b4a8e13
Debian-based Linux x64 (Ubuntu 20+) Positron-2026.10.0-297-x64.deb 540M 3353fed
Debian-based Linux arm64 (Ubuntu 20+) Positron-2026.10.0-297-arm64.deb 506M d3e5f36
Red Hat-based Linux x64 (RHEL9) Positron-2026.10.0-297-x64.rpm 613M ee48923
Red Hat-based Linux arm64 (RHEL9) Positron-2026.10.0-297-arm64.rpm 574M 5fbc51c

Prerequisites

In most cases, Positron is ready to go as soon as it is installed. Check the section for your platform or language to see if you need anything more.

Windows setup

If you’re using Windows, make sure you have the latest Visual C++ Redistributable installed.

Optional language setup

Positron runs without any programming language installed. If you plan to use R or Python, follow these steps to get your environment working.

Positron works with actively supported versions of Python.

If you do not have a valid Python version available, Positron can install one for you. If you prefer to use an existing environment, Positron supports the following Python environment managers:

  • venv: Standard library virtual environments created with python -m venv
  • uv: Virtual environments and Python installations managed by uv
  • pyenv: Python installations managed by pyenv, including virtual environments
  • conda: Conda environments created with conda create or mamba create, as well as pixi environments created with pixi init

Other tools might also be compatible, even if Positron does not officially support them. For the full list of requirements, see Python environment qualifications.

Ensure you have R 4.2 or higher installed. To install R, follow the instructions for your operating system.

Alternatively, if you’d like to have multiple R installations, rig is a great tool to manage this which works well with Positron.

If you’re an R package developer, you will also want to make sure that you have the current versions of certain R packages, all of which had recent updates to make them work more smoothly in Positron. Run one of the code snippets below to ensure that you are up-to-date:

# if you're a pak person (we are!)
pak::pak(c("usethis", "cli", "crayon", "rlang", "roxygen2", "pkgload"))

# or using base R
install.packages(c("usethis", "cli", "crayon", "rlang", "roxygen2", "pkgload"))
Note

If you’re a Windows user, note that Positron doesn’t bundle Rtools. If you need Rtools for your package development or other work, you can either use the official guidance from CRAN on installing Rtools and putting it on the PATH, or alternatively, use rig to install and set up Rtools:

rig system rtools add

Staying up to date

Once you install Positron, it will automatically check for updates moving forward.

NoteStay in the loop

Want to be notified about upcoming releases, new features, and community events? Sign up for Positron updates.

Positron Pro

Positron Pro on Posit Workbench

Workbench includes support for Positron Pro. To configure and use Positron Pro on Workbench, please see the Positron Pro administration guide and the Positron Pro user guide.

Positron Pro on Amazon SageMaker

Positron Pro is also available on Amazon SageMaker (in public preview) as a custom Docker image. The image includes R, Python environment management via uv, Quarto, Posit Assistant backed by Amazon Bedrock, and professional ODBC drivers from Posit. Running Positron on SageMaker requires a Workbench Advanced license through AWS License Manager. To get started, see the Positron on Amazon SageMaker administration guide and user guide.