Install the released compiler

Hydrogen is distributed as a self-hosted compiler binary. For normal language and Australis development, download that release binary; you do not need the older C++ SDK or a C++ compiler.

Linux x86-64

Download the current Linux x86-64 asset from the Hydrogen compiler releases, extract it, and add its bin directory to your shell PATH. The release command is named hy. (.hy remains the extension for Hydrogen source files.)

export PATH="/path/to/hydrogen-release/bin:$PATH"
hy tokens hello.hy

Add the same PATH entry to your shell profile (for example ~/.profile) to make hy available in new terminals. The next page compiles a first program and confirms the release works.

First program

Create hello.hy:

public class Program {
    public static int Main(string[] args) {
        System.Console.WriteLine("Hello, Hydrogen!");
        return 0;
    }
}

Compile and run it:

hy compile hello.hy -o hello
chmod +x hello
./hello

Building from source

This is only needed when contributing to Hydrogen or creating a new trusted seed. A source-only checkout needs a verified Hydrogen compiler; the historical C++ bootstrap is maintainer infrastructure, not part of using a release.