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Install from PyPI

The fastest way to get Basilisk is the prebuilt wheel from PyPI. It includes all standard build options — optical navigation and MuJoCo dynamics — and works on all supported platforms. 
pip install bsk
To install a specific version: 
pip install bsk==2.9.0
The prebuilt wheel does not support linking external C++ modules. If you need to link custom C++ code, you must build from source.

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Supported platforms

Prebuilt wheels are available for Python 3.9–3.14 on the following platforms:
PlatformArchitecture
Windows 10/11x86_64
macOS 11+Apple Silicon (arm64)
Linux (manylinux 2.28+)x86_64, aarch64
Wheels are built as ABI3 packages, so a single wheel covers multiple Python minor versions within the supported range.
On unsupported systems or Python versions, pip will download the source archive (.tar.gz) and build Basilisk locally. This requires a C++ compiler toolchain and standard build tools.

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Download examples

If you installed Basilisk from PyPI, the example scripts are not included in the wheel. Run the following command to download a copy of all examples into your current directory: 
bskExamples
This places the examples/ folder in your working directory. Make a copy of the scripts before editing them so you preserve the originals.

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Download large data files

To keep the wheel size small, large support data files (e.g., gravity models, ephemeris data) are not bundled. They are fetched automatically on demand via pooch the first time a script needs them. To download all large data files at once, run: 
bskLargeData
Run bskLargeData before working offline or in environments without internet access to ensure all data is cached locally.

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Docker / containers

Basilisk publishes multi-architecture container images (linux/amd64, linux/arm64) to the GitHub Container Registry: 
docker pull ghcr.io/avslab/basilisk:latest
Pull a specific version tag for reproducible environments: 
docker pull ghcr.io/avslab/basilisk:v2.9.0
Run a quick import check: 
docker run --rm ghcr.io/avslab/basilisk:latest
Open an interactive shell: 
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/avslab/basilisk:latest bash
See the containers guide for port forwarding options (Vizard, Bokeh) and instructions for building a local image.

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Build from source

Building from source is required if you want to:
  • Link external C++ modules into Basilisk
  • Exclude unused features to reduce install size
  • Customize CMake or Conan build options
See Building from source for full instructions, or jump directly to your platform:

macOS

Set up a macOS development environment.

Linux

Set up a Linux development environment.

Windows

Set up a Windows development environment.

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