Install Aura On Windows With WSL

Aura has no native Windows executable. On an x86-64 Windows 11 machine, you install and run the Linux release inside Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) with Ubuntu 24.04. The CLI, compiler runtime, your projects, and the VS Code language server all run inside WSL 2.

1. Install WSL 2 And Ubuntu

Open PowerShell as Administrator. List the available distribution names:

wsl --list --online

Install Ubuntu 24.04:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

Restart Windows if asked. Launch Ubuntu 24.04 LTS from the Start menu. On first launch, create the Linux username and password it asks for.

For older Windows builds and existing WSL setups, Microsoft's WSL installation guide documents recovery steps.

2. Confirm WSL 2

In PowerShell:

wsl --list --verbose

The Ubuntu row must show version 2. If it shows version 1, convert it. Use the exact distribution name that the previous command printed:

wsl --set-version Ubuntu-24.04 2

Run every remaining command in this guide in the Ubuntu terminal, not PowerShell.

3. Prepare Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl ca-certificates tar coreutils build-essential

The first four packages let you install and verify Aura. build-essential enables direct native execution and aura build.

4. Install Aura Inside WSL

Run the installer:

curl -fsSL https://johnolafenwa.github.io/Aura/install.sh | sh

Add Aura to the Ubuntu login environment:

grep -qxF 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' "$HOME/.profile" || \
  printf '%s\n' 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> "$HOME/.profile"
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Verify both the CLI and the native toolchain:

aura --version
cc --version

5. Create A Project In The WSL Filesystem

Keep active Aura projects under your Linux home directory. There, Linux tools get normal permissions and filesystem behavior:

mkdir -p "$HOME/projects/aura-hello"
cd "$HOME/projects/aura-hello"
printf '%s\n' 'print("hello from Aura in WSL")' > hello.au
aura run hello.au

Windows drives are available under paths such as /mnt/c. The Linux home directory is still the recommended place for projects you develop in WSL.

6. Connect VS Code To WSL

1. Install Visual Studio Code on Windows. In its installer, select Add to PATH.
2. In the local VS Code window, install Microsoft's WSL extension.
3. From the Ubuntu terminal, open the project:

cd "$HOME/projects/aura-hello"
code .

4. VS Code installs its server inside WSL and opens a remote window. Check that the status bar shows WSL: Ubuntu.
5. In that remote window, install Aura Programming Language into WSL.

A copy of the extension installed only locally is not enough. The extension must launch the aura lsp executable inside Ubuntu.

Continue with the complete VS Code extension guide.

Upgrade Aura

Run the updater from the Ubuntu terminal, not PowerShell:

aura upgrade
aura --version

This upgrades the Linux compiler and runtime inside WSL.

Troubleshooting

wsl --install displays help

WSL may already be installed. Run wsl --list --online, then install the exact Ubuntu distribution name that command shows.

code is not found inside Ubuntu

Install VS Code on Windows with its Add to PATH option. Close the Ubuntu terminal, reopen it, and run code . again.

VS Code cannot find aura

Open a terminal in the WSL: Ubuntu window and run:

command -v aura
aura --version

If these commands fail, restore the PATH export from step 4 and restart the WSL VS Code window. Do not install a Windows copy of Aura. The current compiler ships only as the Linux binary running inside WSL.

Windows on ARM

The current Aura release has no Linux ARM64 archive. Windows-on-ARM WSL hosts are not supported in this preview.