> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.evolvingmachines.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Installation

> Install the evolve command and the SDKs, and set your API key.

## The CLI

The `evolve` command ships inside the npm package `@evolvingmachines/evolve`.

```bash theme={null}
npm install -g @evolvingmachines/evolve
evolve --version
```

Inside a project that has the package, `npx evolve` runs it. For a one-off without installing, name the package: `npx --package=@evolvingmachines/evolve evolve --help`. A bare `npx evolve` fetches an unrelated package of that name from the public registry.

## The SDKs

The same surface is available as a library in TypeScript and in Python.

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash TypeScript theme={null}
  npm install @evolvingmachines/evolve
  ```

  ```bash Python theme={null}
  pip install evolvingmachines-evolve
  ```
</CodeGroup>

The Python package needs Python 3.10 or newer. The hosted clients on these pages talk to the platform directly. Node.js and npm are needed only to run agents on your own machine through `run()`, which these pages do not cover.

## Your API key

Create a key on the dashboard's [API keys page](https://dashboard.evolvingmachines.ai/api-keys), then export it. Every command and every SDK client reads `EVOLVE_API_KEY`.

```bash theme={null}
export EVOLVE_API_KEY="<your key>"
evolve auth status
```

`auth status` prints who the platform thinks you are and which key is in use. The key itself is never printed back. To use a different key for one call, pass `--api-key <key>` on the command line, or `{ apiKey }` to an SDK client.

## Your coding agent

```bash theme={null}
evolve skills install
```

One small skill, `evolve`, lands in the skill folder of every coding agent on your machine: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI and OpenCode. From then on, when you mention Evolve, evals, datasets, jobs or tasks, the agent reads the manual from the command itself, `evolve skills get evals`, one page at a time. The manual ships inside the package, so it always matches the version you installed. See [evolve skills](/cli-reference/skills).

<Card title="Quick start" icon="play" href="/getting-started/quick-start">
  Start your first job.
</Card>