> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://proto.evodesign.org/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Installation

> How to install proto-tools

# Installation

## Step 1: Install the package

Proto-tools requires Python 3.10+:

```bash bash icon="terminal" theme={null}
pip install git+https://github.com/evo-design/proto-tools.git
```

<Note>
  A direct PyPI install (`pip install proto-tools`) will be available soon.
</Note>

<Note>
  If you are developing or contributing to this project, follow the setup instructions in [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/evo-design/proto-tools/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) instead.
</Note>

## Step 2: Configure storage (optional)

All persistent data (model weights and tool environments) is cached under the `PROTO_HOME` directory on first use (defaults to `~/.proto/`).

To customize the storage location, you can specify a path via the following environment variable:

```bash bash icon="terminal" theme={null}
# Add to your shell profile:
export PROTO_HOME=/path/to/your/proto_home
```

For shared filesystems, model weights can be reused to avoid downloading duplicate copies. The `PROTO_MODEL_CACHE` environment variable lets you point just the weights at that shared location (sharing tool environments is not recommended): `export PROTO_MODEL_CACHE=/path/to/shared/weights`. See [Storage guide](/docs/tools/guides/storage) for all details and options.

## Step 3: Gated model access (optional)

A few tools use gated models or software that require accepting a license / terms-of-use first (e.g. ESM3, AlphaGenome, AlphaFold3, X3DNA). See [notes/gated-models.md](notes/gated-models.md) for the full list and per-model access steps.

<Tip>
  **You're all set up!** To learn what features are available in the library, check out the [guides](guides/) — four short notebooks covering tool environments, persistent execution, device management, and parallel multi-GPU runs.
</Tip>

***

<Check>
  **You're all set!** Head over to the [Quickstart](/docs/tools/guides/quickstart) to run your first tool, or browse the [tool catalog](/docs/tools/concepts/overview) to see what's available.
</Check>