Kit-less Installation

Kit-less Installation#

Isaac Lab can be installed and used without Isaac Sim using the kit-less mode. This is the fastest way to get started and is ideal for users who only need the Newton physics backend.

Cloning Isaac Lab#

Clone the repository:

git clone git@github.com:isaac-sim/IsaacLab.git --branch release/3.0.0-beta2
cd IsaacLab

git clone https://github.com/isaac-sim/IsaacLab.git --branch release/3.0.0-beta2
cd IsaacLab

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.

We recommend uv as the package manager — it is significantly faster than pip and conda for creating environments and resolving dependencies.

Caution

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

  • For Isaac Sim 6.X, the required Python version is 3.12.

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

The following instructions are for Isaac Sim 6.X, which requires Python 3.12.

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

    uv is the fastest and recommended way to create a Python environment for Isaac Lab. To install uv, please follow the instructions here.

    # create a virtual environment named env_isaaclab with python3.12 and pip
uv venv --python 3.12 --seed env_isaaclab
# activate the virtual environment
source env_isaaclab/bin/activate

    :: create a virtual environment named env_isaaclab with python3.12 and pip
uv venv --python 3.12 --seed env_isaaclab
:: activate the virtual environment
env_isaaclab\Scripts\activate

    Note

    The --seed flag ensures pip is available inside the uv virtual environment, which is required by the Isaac Lab installer.

    To install conda, please follow the instructions here. 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=3.12
conda activate env_isaaclab

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

    uv pip install --upgrade pip

    uv pip install --upgrade pip

    Note

    If you are using pip directly instead of uv pip, replace uv pip with pip (or python -m pip on Windows) in the commands above and throughout this guide.

Installing Isaac Lab#

With the virtual environment activated, install Isaac Lab (Newton backend, no Isaac Sim required) and kickoff training with MJWarp physics and the Newton visualizer:

# Install Isaac Lab (Newton backend, no Isaac Sim required)
./isaaclab.sh --install   # or ./isaaclab.sh -i

# Kickoff training with MJWarp physics and Newton visualizer
./isaaclab.sh train --rl_library rsl_rl \
--task=Isaac-Cartpole-Direct \
--num_envs=16 --max_iterations=10 \
physics=newton_mjwarp --visualizer newton

:: Install Isaac Lab (Newton backend, no Isaac Sim required)
:: or: isaaclab.bat -i
isaaclab.bat --install

:: Kickoff training with MJWarp physics and Newton visualizer
isaaclab.bat train --rl_library rsl_rl ^
--task=Isaac-Cartpole-Direct ^
--num_envs=16 --max_iterations=10 ^
physics=newton_mjwarp --visualizer newton

Features available in kit-less mode (Newton backend, no Isaac Sim):

  • Newton physics simulation (GPU-accelerated, including MuJoCo-Warp solver)

  • All manager-based and direct RL environments that support Newton

  • RL training with SKRL, RSL-RL, and other frameworks

  • Robot assets compatible with Newton

  • ovphysx and ovrtx backends

Features that require Isaac Sim:

  • Isaac Sim PhysX physics backend (not ovphysx)

  • Isaac Sim RTX rendering (not ovrtx)

  • Kit visualizer

  • URDF and MJCF importers (GUI-based)

  • Surface gripper (Isaac Sim PhysX-only)

  • PhysX Deformable simulation (Isaac Sim PhysX-only)

  • Teleoperation and imitation learning workflows

To install Isaac Sim, use the pip method described in Installation using Isaac Sim Pip Package.

Modularized Installation#

./isaaclab.sh -i (or isaaclab.bat -i) always installs all core source packages. Additional arguments can control which optional submodules and extra feature dependencies are installed.

Default behavior: ./isaaclab.sh --install or ./isaaclab.sh -i are equivalent to ./isaaclab.sh -i all. That installs optional submodules (mimic, teleop) and automatic extra features (newton, rl, visualizer) on top of the core set. It does not install contrib or ov runtime wheels or the Isaac Sim pip package—request those explicitly when needed.

Special values:

  • all — same as the default behavior above.

  • core — core packages only; no optional submodules, no extra feature dependencies.

Optional submodules (installed only when requested or with all):

Token

What it installs

mimic

isaaclab_teleop and isaaclab_mimic (imitation-learning tools)

teleop

isaaclab_teleop only (Linux x86_64)

Extra feature sets (optional heavy dependencies on core packages):

Token

What it installs

newton

Newton physics dependencies on isaaclab_newton, isaaclab_physx, and isaaclab_visualizers (selectors are not supported)

rl[<framework>]

RL framework extras on isaaclab_rl. Selectors: rsl-rl, skrl, sb3, rl-games. Omit the selector to install all frameworks.

visualizer[<backend>]

Visualizer backend extras on isaaclab_visualizers. Selectors: rerun, viser, newton, kit. Omit the selector for all backends.

contrib[<feature>]

Contrib runtime extras. Selector: rlinf. Bare contrib installs no additional dependencies (the source package is already in core).

ov[<runtime>]

OV runtime wheels. Selectors: ovrtx, ovphysx, all. Bare ov installs no additional dependencies (the source packages are already in core).

isaacsim

Isaac Sim pip package (via the install script; use only when Isaac Sim is not already installed)

contrib and ov are not part of the default all install. Request them explicitly when you need rlinf, OVRTX, or OVPhysX runtimes.

Pass a comma-separated list to combine tokens (commas inside [...] are preserved). Unknown tokens emit a warning and are skipped.

Examples:

# Default: core + optional submodules + newton/rl/visualizer extras
./isaaclab.sh -i

# Newton physics + RSL-RL (common kit-less setup)
./isaaclab.sh -i 'newton,rl[rsl-rl]'

# Newton + OVRTX renderer + RSL-RL + Newton visualizer
./isaaclab.sh -i 'newton,ov[ovrtx],rl[rsl-rl],visualizer[newton]'

# Contrib rlinf runtime dependencies
./isaaclab.sh -i 'contrib[rlinf]'

:: Default: core + optional submodules + newton/rl/visualizer extras
isaaclab.bat -i

:: Newton physics + RSL-RL
isaaclab.bat -i "newton,rl[rsl-rl]"

:: Newton + OVRTX + RSL-RL + Newton visualizer
isaaclab.bat -i "newton,ov[ovrtx],rl[rsl-rl],visualizer[newton]"

:: Contrib rlinf runtime dependencies
isaaclab.bat -i "contrib[rlinf]"