Installing Monk

1. Ensure you have the prerequisites

   Before installing Monk, make sure you have:

   • A GitHub account (if you don’t have one, you can sign up for free)
   • Latest version of VS Code installed (you can download it here)
   • IMPORTANT: GitHub Copilot enabled in VS Code before you start chatting with Monk.

2. Sign up for a Monk account

   Visit monk.io and click Get Started to sign in with your existing GitHub account.

   Or, simply Click Here to sign up with your GitHub account.

3. Install the Monk VS Code Extension

   Install the Monk VS Code extension from the VS Code Marketplace.

4. Open a project in VS Code

   Open a project in VS Code that you want to run with Monk. You can find some sample projects in this Monk GitHub repository.

   Upon first activation of the extension, you will see a welcome screen guiding you through the one-time setup process.

   Complete the setup by following the instructions.

5. All Done!

   You are all set. You can now start using Monk to run your projects.

   Start Running with Monk

What’s being installed?

When you install the Monk VS Code extension, the following things are installed:

• The extension itself
• Monk CLI and Monk Daemon
• Podman (if it’s not already installed)
• On Windows only: WSL2 Ubuntu 24.04 (if it’s not already installed)

Monk requires its CLI and Daemon to be installed on your system in order to run your projects and manage your infrastructure. Podman is used to run the containers Monk creates locally for builds, development and testing.

This is a one-time installation, all components are self-updating.

See Technical FAQ for more details.