How to install qmk_firmware

Qmk_firmware is developer utility. This page carries no procedure of its own; it records what the project is and what to look at before touching it.

Paths onto a machine

In practice this means one of a handful of routes: an operating system package index, a registry tied to a language, a version manager, or a source tree built with the project's own tooling. Which one applies is decided by the platform and by the maintainers.

Who is behind it

Direction comes from the people who write the code. Their decisions on releases and support are the ones that matter.

Prior checks

Start from the support matrix. It narrows over time, and assumptions made years ago often no longer hold.

Interpreting what you see

Most unexpected behaviour traces back to resolution rather than to the project. An older copy sitting earlier in the path, or a version manager pointing somewhere else, will do it every time.

What this domain is

Only text is published from this domain. Each project remains exactly where its authors put it.

Keeping environments clean

Isolating environments, whether with a version manager or per-project directories, removes a whole category of confusing behaviour later on.