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

# Installing Platform Specific Packages

> At times, you may need to install a package or library that is only available on a specific platform. For example, you may want to install a package that is only available on Linux, while still using the same Devbox configuration on your Mac.

Devbox allows you to specify which platforms a package should be installed on using the `--platform`
and `--exclude-platform` flags. When a package is added using these flags, it will be added to your
`devbox.json`, but will only be installed when you run Devbox on a matching platform.

<Info>
  Specifying platforms for packages will alter your `devbox.json` in a way that is only compatible
  with **Devbox 0.5.12** and newer.

  If you encounter errors trying to run a Devbox project with platform-specific packages, you may need
  to run `devbox version update`.
</Info>

## Installing Platform Specific Packages[​](#installing-platform-specific-packages "Direct link to Installing Platform Specific Packages")

To avoid build or installation errors, you can tell Devbox to only install a package on specific
platforms using the `--platform` flag when you run `devbox add`.

For example, to install the `busybox` package only on Linux platforms, you can run:

```bash theme={null}
devbox add busybox --platform x86_64-linux,aarch64-linux
```

This will add busybox to your `devbox.json`, but will only install it when use devbox on a Linux
machine. The packages section in your config will look like the following

```json theme={null}
{
  "packages": {
    "busybox": {
      "version": "latest",
      "platforms": ["x86_64-linux", "aarch64-linux"]
    }
  }
}
```

## Excluding a Package from Specific Platforms[​](#excluding-a-package-from-specific-platforms "Direct link to Excluding a Package from Specific Platforms")

You can also tell Devbox to exclude a package from a specific platform using the
`--exclude-platform` flag. For example, to avoid installing `ripgrep` on an ARM-based Mac, you can
run:

```bash theme={null}
devbox add ripgrep --exclude-platform aarch64-darwin
```

This will add ripgrep to your `devbox.json`, but will not install it when use devbox on an ARM-based
Mac. The packages section in your config will look like the following:

```json theme={null}
{
  "packages": {
    "ripgrep": {
      "version": "latest",
      "excluded_platforms": ["aarch64-darwin"]
    }
  }
}
```

## Supported Platforms[​](#supported-platforms "Direct link to Supported Platforms")

Valid Platforms include:

* `aarch64-darwin`
* `aarch64-linux`
* `x86_64-darwin`
* `x86_64-linux`

The platforms below are also supported, but will build packages from source

* `i686-linux`
* `armv7l-linux`

[Edit this page](https://github.com/jetify-com/docs/tree/main/docs/devbox/guides/platform-specific-packages/index.mdx)