> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cockroachlabs.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Install CockroachDB on Mac

export const InternalLink = ({version, path = "", children, ...props}) => {
  let detectedVersion = version || "stable";
  if (typeof window !== 'undefined' && !version) {
    const match = window.location.pathname.match(/\/docs\/([^/]+)/);
    if (match) {
      detectedVersion = match[1];
    }
  }
  const normalizedPath = path.startsWith("/") ? path.slice(1) : path;
  return <a href={`/docs/${detectedVersion}/${normalizedPath}`} {...props}>
      {children}
    </a>;
};

<Note>
  Mac
  <InternalLink path="install-cockroachdb-linux">Linux</InternalLink>
  <InternalLink path="install-cockroachdb-windows">Windows</InternalLink>
  To try CockroachDB Cloud instead of running CockroachDB yourself, refer to the <InternalLink version="cockroachcloud" path="quickstart">Cloud Quickstart</InternalLink>.
  **This page refers to CockroachDB v26.1.**
  **Note:**
  CockroachDB on macOS is experimental and not suitable for production deployments.
  Use one of the options below to install CockroachDB. To upgrade an existing cluster, refer to <InternalLink path="upgrade-cockroach-version">Upgrade to v26.1</InternalLink>. For limitations specific to geospatial features, refer to [Limitations](#limitations).
</Note>

## Use Homebrew

1. [Install Homebrew](http://brew.sh/).
2. Instruct Homebrew to install CockroachDB:

   ```
   $ brew install cockroachdb/tap/cockroach
   ```
3. Keep up-to-date with CockroachDB releases and best practices:

<Tip>
  **Note:**
  If you previously installed CockroachDB via Homebrew, you can <InternalLink path="upgrade-cockroach-version">upgrade</InternalLink> the CockroachDB binary to the next major version or to a patch version using HomeBrew. After updating the binary on each node, restart the `cockroach` process on the node. When upgrading to a new major version, you must complete additional steps to <InternalLink path="upgrade-cockroach-version#finalize-a-major-version-upgrade-manually">finalize</InternalLink> the upgrade. If you need to upgrade through multiple major versions, you must complete each major-version upgrade separately, including finalizing the upgrade, before beginning the next one.
  Before starting the upgrade, review the <InternalLink version="releases" path="v26.1">release notes</InternalLink>, including temporary limitations during the upgrade.
  To upgrade CockroachDB via HomeBrew:

  ```shell theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
  brew update
  ```

  ```shell theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
  brew update
  brew upgrade cockroach
  ```
</Tip>

## Download the binary

1. Visit <InternalLink version="releases" path="index.html">Releases</InternalLink> to download the CockroachDB archive for the architecture of your macOS host. The archive contains the `cockroach` binary and the supporting libraries that are used to provide <InternalLink path="spatial-data-overview">spatial features</InternalLink>.

   You can download the binary using a web browser or you can copy the link and use a utility like `curl` to download it. If you download the ARM binary using a web browser and you plan to use CockroachDB's spatial features, an additional step is required before you can install the library, as outlined in the next step.

   Extract the archive and optionally copy the `cockroach` binary into your `PATH` so you can execute <InternalLink path="cockroach-commands">cockroach commands</InternalLink> from any shell. If you get a permission error, use `sudo`.

   Note:

   If you plan to use CockroachDB's <InternalLink path="spatial-data-overview">spatial features</InternalLink>, you must complete all of the following steps. Otherwise, your installation is now complete.
2. CockroachDB uses custom-built versions of the [GEOS](architecture/glossary.html#geos) libraries. To install those libraries:

   1. Note that [spatial features are currently disabled for Mac ARM users](spatial-data-overview.html#known-limitations), for whom these steps do not apply. For an upcoming patch release where this functionality is reenabled, if you downloaded the CockroachDB ARM binary archive using a web browser, macOS flags the GEOS libraries in the extracted archive as quarantined. This flag must be removed before CockroachDB can use the libraries. To remove the quarantine flag from the libraries:

      This step is not required for Intel systems.
   2. Copy these libraries to one of the locations where CockroachDB expects to find them. By default, CockroachDB looks for external libraries in `/usr/local/lib/cockroach` or a `lib` subdirectory of the CockroachDB binary's current directory. If you place these libraries in another location, you must pass the location in the [`--spatial-libs` flag to `cockroach start`](cockroach-start.html#flags-spatial-libs). The instructions below assume the `/usr/local/lib/cockroach` location.
      1. Create the directory where the external libraries will be stored:

         ```
         mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/cockroach
         ```
      2. Copy the library files to the directory:

         ```
         cp -i cockroach-v26.1.1.darwin-10.9-amd64/lib/libgeos.dylib /usr/local/lib/cockroach/
         ```

         ```
         cp -i cockroach-v26.1.1.darwin-10.9-amd64/lib/libgeos_c.dylib /usr/local/lib/cockroach/
         ```

         If you get a permissions error, prefix the command with `sudo`.
3. Verify that CockroachDB can execute spatial queries.

   1. Make sure the `cockroach` binary you just installed is the one that runs when you type `cockroach` in your shell:

      ```
      which cockroach
      ```

      ```
      /usr/local/bin/cockroach
      ```
   2. Start a temporary, in-memory cluster using <InternalLink path="cockroach-demo">`cockroach demo`</InternalLink>:

      ```
      cockroach demo
      ```
   3. In the demo cluster's interactive SQL shell, run the following command to test that the spatial libraries have loaded properly:

      ```
      > SELECT ST_IsValid(ST_MakePoint(1,2));
      ```

      You should see the following output:

      If your `cockroach` binary is not properly accessing the dynamically linked C libraries in `/usr/local/lib/cockroach`, it will output an error message like the one below.

      ```
      ERROR: st_isvalid(): geos: error during GEOS init: geos: cannot load GEOS from dir "/usr/local/lib/cockroach": failed to execute dlopen
                Failed running "sql"
      ```

* Keep up-to-date with CockroachDB releases and best practices:

## Use Kubernetes

To orchestrate CockroachDB using [Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/), use the official [CockroachDB operator](cockroachdb-operator-overview.html#cockroachdb-operator).

You can evaluate a CockroachDB Kubernetes deployment on a local machine with [minikube](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/).

## Use Docker

## Build from source

See the [public wiki](https://wiki.crdb.io/wiki/spaces/CRDB/pages/181338446/Getting+and+building+CockroachDB+from+source) for guidance. When building on the ARM architecture, refer to [Limitations](#limitations).

## Limitations

CockroachDB runtimes built for the ARM architecture have the following limitations:

* CockroachDB on ARM for macOS is **experimental** and is not yet qualified for production use and not eligible for support or uptime SLA commitments.
* Clusters with a mix of Intel and ARM nodes are untested. Cockroach Labs recommends that all cluster nodes have identical CockroachDB versions, hardware, and software.
* Floating point operations may yield different results on ARM than on Intel, particularly [Fused Multiply Add (FMA) intrinsics](https://developer.arm.com/documentation/dui0375/g/Compiler-specific-Features/Fused-Multiply-Add--FMA--intrinsics).
* When [building from source](#install-source) on ARM, consider disabling FMA intrinsics in your compiler. For GCC, refer to [Options That Control Optimization](https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Optimize-Options.html) in the GCC documentation.

## What's next?

## Limitations

On macOS ARM systems, <InternalLink path="spatial-data-overview">spatial features</InternalLink> are disabled due to an issue with macOS code signing for the [GEOS](https://libgeos.org/) libraries. Users needing spatial features on an ARM Mac may instead [run the Intel binary](#install-the-binary) or use the[Docker container image](#use-docker).