Steam is the recommended path for anyone who wants to create games. You get automatic updates and a fully pre-built editor.Request access
Visit sbox.game/give-me-that and request access to the s&box beta. Once approved, the game appears in your Steam library. Install from Steam
Open Steam, find s&box in your library, and click Install. Steam downloads and installs the editor and all required binaries automatically.
Launch the editor
Click Play in Steam to open the s&box editor. On first launch you will be prompted to set a working directory where your projects will be stored.
You can launch directly into a specific game project by passing its ident as a launch argument, for example sbox.exe +game facepunch.sandbox.
Building from source is intended for contributors who want to modify or extend the engine itself. Most game developers should use the Steam install.Source builds are for contributors to the engine. If you want to make games, use the Steam version instead — it is easier to set up and stays up to date automatically.
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Facepunch/sbox-public.git
Run Bootstrap.bat
From the repository root, run Bootstrap.bat. This script uses the SboxBuild tool to compile the engine, build shaders, and package content:The script runs three build steps in sequence: build, build-shaders, and build-content. Allow several minutes for the initial compile. Run the editor
Once the build completes, the game and editor binaries are placed in the game/ folder. Run the executable from there to launch s&box.