---
title: Installation
description: Install RDBMS Playground from a prebuilt binary or a package manager, and run it for the first time.
sidebar:
  order: 1
---

RDBMS Playground is a single self-contained program. There is nothing to
configure and no separate database to install — everything it needs is
built in.

## Prebuilt binaries

Download the binary for your platform, make it executable if needed, and
put it somewhere on your `PATH`.

:::note
Download links are published with each release. They are added here when the
first public version ships.
:::

## Package managers

Once published, the playground will be installable through common package
managers:

```sh
# macOS / Linux (Homebrew)
brew install rdbms-playground

# Windows (Scoop)
scoop install rdbms-playground
```

:::note
Package-manager availability lands with the first public release; the exact
names are confirmed here at that time.
:::

## Run it

Start the playground with no arguments and it opens a fresh, automatically
named temporary project so you can start experimenting immediately:

```sh
rdbms-playground
```

To open an existing project, pass its path:

```sh
rdbms-playground path/to/project
```

Useful options (run `rdbms-playground --help` for the full list):

| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| `--resume` | Reopen the most recently used project. |
| `--data-dir <PATH>` | Use a different location for stored projects. |
| `--theme <light\|dark>` | Force a theme instead of auto-detecting. |
| `--mode <simple\|advanced>` | Start in a specific input mode. |

Next: [create your first project](/getting-started/first-project/).
