Installation & Getting Started

Canton DevKit is a single Go binary that orchestrates the Splice LocalNet Docker stack. It ships two ways:

DPM component (primary) — install through the Daml Package Manager and invoke as dpm localnet <command>.
Standalone binary (canton-devkit) — a self-contained executable for users who don’t run DPM (CI, DevOps, workshop facilitators), shipped as release archives. Invoke as canton-devkit localnet <command>.

Both paths ship the same binary and expose the same command tree. Throughout the docs, dpm localnet <cmd> and canton-devkit localnet <cmd> are interchangeable.

The only system prerequisite is a working Docker runtime. DevKit never installs Docker, never edits the Docker daemon config, and never changes host permissions. It orchestrates the existing Splice LocalNet container stack.

1. Prerequisites

Requirement	Why	Check
Docker Engine / Desktop	DevKit runs LocalNet as containers	`docker version`
Docker Compose v2	LocalNet is a compose project	`docker compose version`
~8 GB free RAM for Docker	Splice stack is memory-hungry	Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources
~20 GB free disk	Splice images + volumes	`df -h`

Run the built-in host check at any time — it never modifies anything:

dpm localnet doctor          # or: canton-devkit localnet doctor

doctor exits 0 when the host is ready (warnings allowed) and 2 when a check fails, printing copy-pasteable remediation. It’s the same preflight localnet up runs, so a green doctor means up will pass preflight.

2. Install — DPM component (primary)

DevKit is published as a native DPM component to an OCI registry. Remove the sdk-version field from your project’s daml.yaml (or multi-package.yaml) and declare the SDK packages plus the DevKit component under components, then install:

#sdk-version: <your-sdk-version>
name: my-app
version: 0.1.0
source: .
dependencies: []
components:
  - canton-open-source:<your-sdk-version>
  - codegen:<your-sdk-version>
  - damlc:<your-sdk-version>
  - daml-new:<your-sdk-version>
  - daml-script:<your-sdk-version>
  - upgrade-check:<your-sdk-version>
  - scribe:<your-sdk-version>
  - daml-shell:<your-sdk-version>
  - oci://ghcr.io/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit:<version>

dpm install package
dpm localnet --help          # confirms the component loaded

Replace <your-sdk-version> with the Canton/Daml release you are targeting, and <version> with a DevKit release tag (semver, no v prefix) or latest.

DPM registers a single top-level localnet command; every DevKit subcommand (up, down, status, dar, contracts, tx, token, metrics, doctor, and the rest) lives under it. This keeps the DPM surface minimal and conflict-free.

3. Install — standalone binary

Standalone builds are published on this repository’s GitHub Releases. Release archives are named canton-devkit_v<version>_<os>_<arch>.tar.gz (.zip on Windows) — each contains the canton-devkit binary plus LICENSE and README.md. Every release also publishes a single SHA256SUMS file covering all archives.

Quick install (macOS arm64 / Linux amd64)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/main/install.sh | sh

Or with wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/main/install.sh | sh

Options (pass as environment variables):

# Pin a specific version
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/main/install.sh | VERSION=0.17.4 sh

# Custom install directory
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/main/install.sh | INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin sh

The installer detects your platform, downloads the matching archive from the releases page, verifies the SHA-256 checksum, and installs to ~/.local/bin by default. It warns when that directory is not on your PATH.

Supported platforms:

macOS Apple Silicon (darwin/arm64)
Linux x86_64 (linux/amd64)

Homebrew (macOS arm64 / Linux amd64)

brew tap bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit
brew install bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/canton-devkit

To upgrade after a new release is published:

brew update
brew upgrade canton-devkit

The formula downloads platform-specific release tarballs from this repository’s releases page; the tap only hosts the Homebrew formula.

See the Homebrew guide for the tap layout and how the formula is kept in sync on each release.

Note: the hosted APT repository and .deb packages are no longer maintained. If you previously added /etc/apt/sources.list.d/canton-devkit.list, remove that file and use the quick-install script, a release tarball, or Homebrew instead.

Manual download — macOS (Apple Silicon)

Download the binary for your platform from the releases page, verify its checksum, mark it executable, and put it on your PATH:

VERSION=v0.17.4   # replace with the latest release tag
ASSET="canton-devkit_${VERSION}_darwin_arm64.tar.gz"
base="https://github.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/releases/download/${VERSION}"
curl -fLO "${base}/${ASSET}"
curl -fLO "${base}/SHA256SUMS"
# verify against the release checksums (recommended)
grep " ${ASSET}\$" SHA256SUMS | shasum -a 256 -c - || { echo "checksum mismatch"; exit 1; }
tar -xzf "${ASSET}"             # → canton-devkit, LICENSE, README.md
chmod +x canton-devkit
sudo mv canton-devkit /usr/local/bin/
# Gatekeeper: first run may need this once
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/canton-devkit 2>/dev/null || true
canton-devkit version

Manual download — Linux (amd64)

VERSION=v0.17.4   # replace with the latest release tag
ASSET="canton-devkit_${VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz"
base="https://github.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/releases/download/${VERSION}"
curl -fLO "${base}/${ASSET}"
curl -fLO "${base}/SHA256SUMS"
grep " ${ASSET}\$" SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c - || { echo "checksum mismatch"; exit 1; }
tar -xzf "${ASSET}"             # → canton-devkit, LICENSE, README.md
chmod +x canton-devkit
sudo mv canton-devkit /usr/local/bin/
canton-devkit version

Windows (amd64, PowerShell)

$Version = "v0.17.4"   # replace with the latest release tag
$Asset = "canton-devkit_${Version}_windows_amd64.zip"
$base = "https://github.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/releases/download/$Version"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "$base/$Asset" -OutFile $Asset
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "$base/SHA256SUMS" -OutFile SHA256SUMS
# verify against the release checksums
$expected = ((Get-Content SHA256SUMS | Select-String -SimpleMatch $Asset) -split '\s+')[0]
$actual = (Get-FileHash $Asset -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
if ($expected -ne $actual) { throw "checksum mismatch" }
Expand-Archive -Path $Asset -DestinationPath canton-devkit-dist -Force

# install into a per-user tools dir, creating it if it doesn't exist yet
$Dest = "$env:USERPROFILE\bin"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $Dest | Out-Null
Move-Item -Force canton-devkit-dist\canton-devkit.exe "$Dest\canton-devkit.exe"

# add it to PATH for this session, and persist it for future terminals
if (";$env:Path;" -notlike "*;$Dest;*") {
  $env:Path = "$Dest;$env:Path"
  [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$Dest;" + [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User"), "User")
}
canton-devkit version

%USERPROFILE%\bin is created if it doesn’t exist and added to your PATH — the current session works right away, and new terminals pick it up automatically. The localnet commands additionally require Docker Desktop with the WSL 2 backend.

From source (Go toolchain)

go install github.com/bitdynamics-ab/canton-devkit/cmd/canton-devkit@latest

4. Compatibility matrix

Platforms (released, tested)

OS	Arch	Status
macOS	arm64 (Apple Silicon)	✅ Supported
Linux	amd64	✅ Supported
Windows	amd64	✅ Supported

Other OS/arch combinations may work (DevKit only orchestrates Docker) but are untested — localnet doctor prints a warning on unsupported platforms.

Splice LocalNet versions

DevKit pins a catalogue of tested Splice versions; localnet up --version <tag> selects one. List them at runtime:

canton-devkit localnet versions

See the Splice version catalogue for how the catalogue is fetched and verified. Uncurated upstream tags can be used at your own risk via up --version <tag> --allow-uncurated.

5. Troubleshooting the install

Symptom	Cause	Fix
`doctor` says Docker daemon ✗	Docker not running	Start Docker Desktop / `sudo systemctl start docker`
`doctor` says Compose v2 ✗	Only Compose v1 present	Upgrade to Docker Compose v2 (`docker compose`, not `docker-compose`)
`up` fails PORTS_IN_USE	Another process holds a port	Stop the conflicting process, or use a different `--name`
`up` hangs at “waiting for healthy”	Insufficient Docker memory	Raise Docker memory to ≥ 8 GB; see Known limitations
Linux: `permission denied` on the Docker socket	User not in `docker` group	`sudo usermod -aG docker $USER` then re-login
macOS: “cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified”	Gatekeeper quarantine	`xattr -d com.apple.quarantine $(which canton-devkit)`
Web UI / Explorer shows stale ports after a restart	Docker re-assigned ephemeral ports	DevKit re-captures them within ~15 s; or run `localnet restart --name <n>`

For anything else, attach the full localnet doctor output to a GitHub issue — it includes OS/arch, Docker/Compose versions, and the check results.

6. Next steps

HackCanton Season 3 starter — install, one working example, and the breaks that eat day-one time.
LocalNet lifecycle — zero to a running LocalNet, multiple instances, deterministic ports, and clean-up.
Tokens — CIP-0112 token flows on LocalNet.
Explorer — browse the Active Contract Set and recent transactions from the Web UI.