Get the software | Archived 2.3 Magento Developer Guide

You are among the 240,000 merchants worldwide who put their trust in our eCommerce software. We have gathered some information to help you get started with Magento and with your Magento installation.

We have some resources here to help get you started using the eCommerce platform of the future—Magento 2.

How to get the Magento software

Check the availability of new features and releases, and learn how you can obtain them, on our Magento product availability page.

Consult the following table for getting started with installing Magento Open Source or Adobe Commerce.

User needs Description High-level installation and upgrade steps Get started link

User needs	Description	High-level installation and upgrade steps	Get started link
Integrator, packager	Wants full control over all components installed, has access to the Magento server, highly technical, might repackage Magento Open Source with other components.	Creates a Composer project that contains the list of components to use. Uses Composer to update package dependencies; uses `composer create-project` to get the Magento metapackage. Installs the Magento software using the command line. Upgrades the Magento application and extensions using the command line.	Get the metapackage
Contributing developer	Contributes to the Magento codebase, files bugs, and customizes the Magento software. Highly technical, has their own Magento development server, understands Composer and GitHub. You cannot use Magento in a production environment. You must upgrade using Composer and Git commands.	Clones the Magento 2 GitHub repository. Uses Composer to update package dependencies. Installs the Magento software using command line. Upgrades the Magento software using Composer and Git commands. Customizes code under the `app/code` directory.	Clone the Magento repository

Integrator, packager

Wants full control over all components installed, has access to the Magento server, highly technical, might repackage Magento Open Source with other components.

Creates a Composer project that contains the list of components to use.
Uses Composer to update package dependencies; uses composer create-project to get the Magento metapackage.
Installs the Magento software using the command line.
Upgrades the Magento application and extensions using the command line.

Get the metapackage

Contributing developer

Contributes to the Magento codebase, files bugs, and customizes the Magento software. Highly technical, has their own Magento development server, understands Composer and GitHub.

You cannot use Magento in a production environment.

You must upgrade using Composer and Git commands.

Clones the Magento 2 GitHub repository.
Uses Composer to update package dependencies.
Installs the Magento software using command line.
Upgrades the Magento software using Composer and Git commands.
Customizes code under the app/code directory.

Clone the Magento repository

Useful information

Use the links on the left side of the page to navigate topics in each part of the installation.

Required server permissions

UNIX systems require root privileges to install and configure software like a web server, PHP, and so on. If you need to install this software, make sure you have root access.

You should not install the Magento software in the web server docroot as the root user because the web server might not be able to interact with those files.

You’ll also need root privileges to create the file system owner and add that owner to the web server’s group. You’ll use the file system owner to run any commands from the command line and to set up the Magento cron job, which schedules tasks for you.