Installation using Isaac Sim Pip Package

Installation using Isaac Sim Pip Package#

The following steps first installs Isaac Sim from pip, then Isaac Lab from source code.

Attention

Installing Isaac Sim with pip requires GLIBC 2.35+ version compatibility. To check the GLIBC version on your system, use command ldd --version.

This may pose compatibility issues with some Linux distributions. For instance, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has GLIBC 2.31 by default. If you encounter compatibility issues, we recommend following the Isaac Sim Binaries Installation approach.

Note

If you plan to Set up Visual Studio Code later, we recommend following the Isaac Sim Binaries Installation approach.

Installing Isaac Sim#

From Isaac Sim 4.0 onwards, it is possible to install Isaac Sim using pip. This approach makes it easier to install Isaac Sim without requiring to download the Isaac Sim binaries. If you encounter any issues, please report them to the Isaac Sim Forums.

Attention

On Windows, it may be necessary to enable long path support to avoid installation errors due to OS limitations.

Preparing a Python Environment#

Creating a dedicated Python environment is strongly recommended. It helps:

  • Avoid conflicts with system Python or other projects installed on your machine.

  • Keep dependencies isolated, so that package upgrades or experiments in other projects do not break Isaac Sim.

  • Easily manage multiple environments for setups with different versions of dependencies.

  • Simplify reproducibility — the environment contains only the packages needed for the current project, making it easier to share setups with colleagues or run on different machines.

You can choose different package managers to create a virtual environment.

  • UV: A modern, fast, and secure package manager for Python.

  • Conda: A cross-platform, language-agnostic package manager for Python.

  • venv: The standard library for creating virtual environments in Python.

Caution

The Python version of the virtual environment must match the Python version of Isaac Sim.

  • For Isaac Sim 5.X, the required Python version is 3.11.

  • For Isaac Sim 4.X, the required Python version is 3.10.

Using a different Python version will result in errors when running Isaac Lab.

The following instructions are for Isaac Sim 5.X, which requires Python 3.11. If you wish to install Isaac Sim 4.5, please use modify the instructions accordingly to use Python 3.10.

  • Create a virtual environment using one of the package managers:

    To install uv, please follow the instructions here. You can create the Isaac Lab environment using the following commands:

    # create a virtual environment named env_isaaclab with python3.11
uv venv --python 3.11 env_isaaclab
# activate the virtual environment
source env_isaaclab/bin/activate

    :: create a virtual environment named env_isaaclab with python3.11
uv venv --python 3.11 env_isaaclab
:: activate the virtual environment
env_isaaclab\Scripts\activate

    To install conda, please follow the instructions here <https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/install/index.html>__. You can create the Isaac Lab environment using the following commands.

    We recommend using Miniconda, since it is light-weight and resource-efficient environment management system.

    conda create -n env_isaaclab python=3.11
conda activate env_isaaclab

    To create a virtual environment using the standard library, you can use the following commands:

    # create a virtual environment named env_isaaclab with python3.11
python3.11 -m venv env_isaaclab
# activate the virtual environment
source env_isaaclab/bin/activate

    :: create a virtual environment named env_isaaclab with python3.11
python3.11 -m venv env_isaaclab
:: activate the virtual environment
env_isaaclab\Scripts\activate

  • Ensure the latest pip version is installed. To update pip, run the following command from inside the virtual environment:

    pip install --upgrade pip

    python -m pip install --upgrade pip

Installing dependencies#

Note

In case you used UV to create your virtual environment, please replace pip with uv pip in the following commands.

  • Install a CUDA-enabled PyTorch 2.7.0 build for CUDA 12.8:

    pip install torch==2.7.0 torchvision==0.22.0 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128

  • Install Isaac Sim pip packages:

    pip install "isaacsim[all,extscache]==5.0.0" --extra-index-url https://pypi.nvidia.com

Verifying the Isaac Sim installation#

  • Make sure that your virtual environment is activated (if applicable)

  • Check that the simulator runs as expected:

    # note: you can pass the argument "--help" to see all arguments possible.
isaacsim

  • It’s also possible to run with a specific experience file, run:

    # experience files can be absolute path, or relative path searched in isaacsim/apps or omni/apps
isaacsim isaacsim.exp.full.kit

Note

When running Isaac Sim for the first time, all dependent extensions will be pulled from the registry. This process can take upwards of 10 minutes and is required on the first run of each experience file. Once the extensions are pulled, consecutive runs using the same experience file will use the cached extensions.

Attention

The first run will prompt users to accept the Nvidia Omniverse License Agreement. To accept the EULA, reply Yes when prompted with the below message:

By installing or using Isaac Sim, I agree to the terms of NVIDIA OMNIVERSE LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)
in https://docs.isaacsim.omniverse.nvidia.com/latest/common/NVIDIA_Omniverse_License_Agreement.html

Do you accept the EULA? (Yes/No): Yes

If the simulator does not run or crashes while following the above instructions, it means that something is incorrectly configured. To debug and troubleshoot, please check Isaac Sim documentation and the forums.

Installing Isaac Lab#

Cloning Isaac Lab#

Note

We recommend making a fork of the Isaac Lab repository to contribute to the project but this is not mandatory to use the framework. If you make a fork, please replace isaac-sim with your username in the following instructions.

Clone the Isaac Lab repository into your project’s workspace:

git clone git@github.com:isaac-sim/IsaacLab.git

git clone https://github.com/isaac-sim/IsaacLab.git

We provide a helper executable isaaclab.sh and isaaclab.bat for Linux and Windows respectively that provides utilities to manage extensions.

./isaaclab.sh --help

usage: isaaclab.sh [-h] [-i] [-f] [-p] [-s] [-t] [-o] [-v] [-d] [-n] [-c] -- Utility to manage Isaac Lab.

optional arguments:
   -h, --help           Display the help content.
   -i, --install [LIB]  Install the extensions inside Isaac Lab and learning frameworks (rl_games, rsl_rl, sb3, skrl) as extra dependencies. Default is 'all'.
   -f, --format         Run pre-commit to format the code and check lints.
   -p, --python         Run the python executable provided by Isaac Sim or virtual environment (if active).
   -s, --sim            Run the simulator executable (isaac-sim.sh) provided by Isaac Sim.
   -t, --test           Run all python pytest tests.
   -o, --docker         Run the docker container helper script (docker/container.sh).
   -v, --vscode         Generate the VSCode settings file from template.
   -d, --docs           Build the documentation from source using sphinx.
   -n, --new            Create a new external project or internal task from template.
   -c, --conda [NAME]   Create the conda environment for Isaac Lab. Default name is 'env_isaaclab'.
   -u, --uv [NAME]      Create the uv environment for Isaac Lab. Default name is 'env_isaaclab'.

isaaclab.bat --help

usage: isaaclab.bat [-h] [-i] [-f] [-p] [-s] [-v] [-d] [-n] [-c] -- Utility to manage Isaac Lab.

optional arguments:
   -h, --help           Display the help content.
   -i, --install [LIB]  Install the extensions inside Isaac Lab and learning frameworks (rl_games, rsl_rl, sb3, skrl) as extra dependencies. Default is 'all'.
   -f, --format         Run pre-commit to format the code and check lints.
   -p, --python         Run the python executable provided by Isaac Sim or virtual environment (if active).
   -s, --sim            Run the simulator executable (isaac-sim.bat) provided by Isaac Sim.
   -t, --test           Run all python pytest tests.
   -v, --vscode         Generate the VSCode settings file from template.
   -d, --docs           Build the documentation from source using sphinx.
   -n, --new            Create a new external project or internal task from template.
   -c, --conda [NAME]   Create the conda environment for Isaac Lab. Default name is 'env_isaaclab'.
   -u, --uv [NAME]      Create the uv environment for Isaac Lab. Default name is 'env_isaaclab'.

Installation#

  • Install dependencies using apt (on Linux only):

    # these dependency are needed by robomimic which is not available on Windows
sudo apt install cmake build-essential

  • Run the install command that iterates over all the extensions in source directory and installs them using pip (with --editable flag):

    ./isaaclab.sh --install # or "./isaaclab.sh -i"

    isaaclab.bat --install :: or "isaaclab.bat -i"

    By default, the above will install all the learning frameworks. These include rl_games, rsl_rl, sb3, skrl, robomimic.

    If you want to install only a specific framework, you can pass the name of the framework as an argument. For example, to install only the rl_games framework, you can run:

    ./isaaclab.sh --install rl_games  # or "./isaaclab.sh -i rl_games"

    isaaclab.bat --install rl_games :: or "isaaclab.bat -i rl_games"

    The valid options are all, rl_games, rsl_rl, sb3, skrl, robomimic, and none. If none is passed, then no learning frameworks will be installed.

Verifying the Isaac Lab installation#

To verify that the installation was successful, run the following command from the top of the repository:

# Option 1: Using the isaaclab.sh executable
# note: this works for both the bundled python and the virtual environment
./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/tutorials/00_sim/create_empty.py

# Option 2: Using python in your virtual environment
python scripts/tutorials/00_sim/create_empty.py

:: Option 1: Using the isaaclab.bat executable
:: note: this works for both the bundled python and the virtual environment
isaaclab.bat -p scripts\tutorials\00_sim\create_empty.py

:: Option 2: Using python in your virtual environment
python scripts\tutorials\00_sim\create_empty.py

The above command should launch the simulator and display a window with a black viewport. You can exit the script by pressing Ctrl+C on your terminal. On Windows machines, please terminate the process from Command Prompt using Ctrl+Break or Ctrl+fn+B.

Simulator with a black window.

If you see this, then the installation was successful! 🎉

Note

If you see an error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'isaacsim', please ensure that the virtual environment is activated and source _isaac_sim/setup_conda_env.sh has been executed (for uv as well).

Train a robot!#

You can now use Isaac Lab to train a robot through Reinforcement Learning! The quickest way to use Isaac Lab is through the predefined workflows using one of our Batteries-included robot tasks. Execute the following command to quickly train an ant to walk! We recommend adding --headless for faster training.

./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py --task=Isaac-Ant-v0 --headless

isaaclab.bat -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py --task=Isaac-Ant-v0 --headless

… Or a robot dog!

./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py --task=Isaac-Velocity-Rough-Anymal-C-v0 --headless

isaaclab.bat -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py --task=Isaac-Velocity-Rough-Anymal-C-v0 --headless

Isaac Lab provides the tools you’ll need to create your own Tasks and Workflows for whatever your project needs may be. Take a look at our How-to Guides guides like Adding your own learning Library or Wrapping Environments for details.

Idle hands...