How to: Installation

Install GATE with:

python3 -m venv opengate_env
source opengate_env/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install opengate

Then, you can create a simulation using the opengate module (see below). For developers, please check the developer guide for the developer installation.

Tip

We highly recommend creating a specific Python environment to 1) ensure all dependencies are handled properly, and 2) avoid mixing with your other Python modules.

If you already have opengate installed, upgrade it with:

python -m pip install --upgrade opengate

Once installed, we recommend checking the installation by printing GATE information and running the tests:

opengate_info
opengate_tests

The first time a simulation is executed, Geant4 data must be downloaded and installed. This step is automated but may take some time depending on your bandwidth. Note that this is only done once. Running opengate_info will display details and the path of the data.

GATE 10 is currently tested with Python 3.10 to 3.14. If you want to use a specific Python version, create the environment with an explicit interpreter, for example python3.11 -m venv opengate_env.

Note that venv inherits the system Python interpreter that was used when creating the virtual environment. To avoid this issue, consider using a Python package and project manager such as uv or pixi for creating environments because it makes it easy to manage distinct Python versions.

Version without visualization

For some systems (clusters or older computers), the main opengate_core cannot be used due to the lack of libGL or other visualization libraries. For Linux systems, we offer a version without visualization and using older libraries. You can install it with:

python3 -m venv opengate_env
source opengate_env/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install "opengate[novis]"

If you already installed the conventional opengate package in the same environment and want to switch to the novis variant, reinstall with:

python -m pip install --force-reinstall "opengate[novis]"

Additional help : “Installing Gate 10 in Ubuntu 22 in WSL2 in Windows 11 AMD64”