Prerequisites

Start with the web workspace. Desktop, Android, iOS, and Matrix end-to-end work add tools only when a change reaches those environments.

Required for every checkout

Trinity currently requires Node.js ^24.15.0. pnpm runs the version pinned in package.json’s packageManager field (12.10.1); the install guard rejects npm and Yarn so they cannot create a competing lockfile.

Check the active tools:

node --version
corepack enable
pnpm --version
git --version

You also need Git and a modern browser. Treat the versions in the root package.json as authoritative when this page and a local checkout disagree.

Add tools for the work you are doing

Work	Additional prerequisite
Browser automation	Playwright browser binaries
Homeserver-backed Matrix journeys	Docker available to the current user
Electron	The separate electron/ dependency tree and host packaging prerequisites
Android	Android Studio, Android SDK, Java, and an emulator or device
iOS	macOS, Xcode, CocoaPods, and a simulator or device

A missing native SDK, signing identity, emulator, browser, or Docker daemon makes that check unavailable. Record the gap instead of treating an unrun host check as passed.

Continue

Next, clone and install Trinity.