Installation

Install Tree-sitter for your preferred language and platform

Tree-sitter provides bindings for multiple languages and platforms. Choose the installation method that matches your project’s needs.

CLI installation

The Tree-sitter CLI allows you to develop, test, and use Tree-sitter grammars from the command line. It works on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Cargo

Install using Rust’s package manager:

cargo install --locked tree-sitter-cli

The --locked flag ensures you get the exact dependency versions that the CLI was tested with.

npm

Install using Node.js package manager:

npm install tree-sitter-cli

For global installation:

npm install -g tree-sitter-cli

Pre-built binary

Download a pre-built binary for your platform from the GitHub releases page.

After downloading, extract the binary and add it to your PATH:

# macOS/Linux
chmod +x tree-sitter
sudo mv tree-sitter /usr/local/bin/

The tree-sitter binary itself has no dependencies, but specific commands have runtime requirements:

• To generate a parser from a grammar, you must have Node.js on your PATH
• To run and test parsers, you must have a C and C++ compiler on your system

Rust bindings

Add Tree-sitter to your Rust project with a language grammar.

1. Add Tree-sitter dependency

   Add to your Cargo.toml:

   [dependencies]
   tree-sitter = "0.27"
   
2. Add a language grammar

   Add a language parser you want to use:

   [dependencies]
   tree-sitter = "0.27"
   tree-sitter-rust = "0.23"
   

   Available language packages include tree-sitter-javascript, tree-sitter-python, tree-sitter-typescript, and many more on crates.io.

3. Import in your code

   use tree_sitter::{Parser, Language};
   

The Rust bindings require Rust version 1.90 or higher.

Features

The Rust bindings support optional features:

Default (std)

[dependencies]
tree-sitter = "0.27"

Available features:

• std (enabled by default) - Allows Tree-sitter to use the standard library. Error types implement std::error::Error, regex performance optimizations are enabled, and DOT graph methods are available.
• wasm - Enables Wasm language support using the wasmtime-c-api crate. Allows loading language grammars compiled to WebAssembly.

JavaScript/TypeScript (Web)

Use Tree-sitter in browser and Node.js environments with WebAssembly bindings.

npm

Install the web-tree-sitter package:

npm install web-tree-sitter

Then import in your code:

const { Parser } = require('web-tree-sitter');
await Parser.init();

Or with ES modules:

import { Parser } from 'web-tree-sitter';
await Parser.init();

Vite

Install the package:

npm install web-tree-sitter

Add a postinstall script to your package.json to copy the Wasm file:

{
  "scripts": {
    "postinstall": "cp node_modules/web-tree-sitter/tree-sitter.wasm public"
  }
}

Import in your code:

import { Parser } from 'web-tree-sitter';
await Parser.init();

Deno

Import directly from npm:

import { Parser } from "npm:web-tree-sitter";
await Parser.init();

Standalone script

Download web-tree-sitter.js and web-tree-sitter.wasm from the latest GitHub release.

<script src="/path/to/web-tree-sitter.js"></script>

<script>
  const { Parser } = window.TreeSitter;
  Parser.init().then(() => {
    // Library is ready
  });
</script>

For CommonJS environments like Electron, use web-tree-sitter.cjs instead of the ES6 module version.

Installing language grammars

After installing web-tree-sitter, you need language grammar files compiled to WebAssembly:

From npm

Install the language package:

npm install tree-sitter-javascript

The .wasm file will be in node_modules/tree-sitter-javascript/.

From GitHub releases

Download .wasm files from the releases page of the language repository. For example, tree-sitter-javascript releases.

This only works for repositories that use the official reusable workflow to publish releases.

Build with CLI

Generate a .wasm file using the Tree-sitter CLI.

Requirements: Emscripten, Docker, or Podman

# Install dependencies
npm install --save-dev tree-sitter-cli tree-sitter-javascript

# Build the Wasm file
npx tree-sitter build --wasm node_modules/tree-sitter-javascript

This generates tree-sitter-javascript.wasm in the current directory.

Debug version

To use the debug version with symbols and assertions:

import { Parser } from 'web-tree-sitter/debug';

await Parser.init();

C/C++ integration

Embed Tree-sitter directly in C or C++ applications.

Build from source

Clone the repository and build:

git clone https://github.com/tree-sitter/tree-sitter.git
cd tree-sitter
make

This creates:

• Static library: libtree-sitter.a
• Dynamic libraries (platform-specific)

Include in build system

Add to your project’s build system by including one source file:

Source file:

• tree-sitter/lib/src/lib.c

Include directories:

• tree-sitter/lib/src
• tree-sitter/lib/include

Example with GCC:

gcc -c tree-sitter/lib/src/lib.c \
  -I tree-sitter/lib/src \
  -I tree-sitter/lib/include

Compiling with a language

To parse a specific language, include the language’s parser:

Static linking

clang \
  -I tree-sitter/lib/include \
  your-program.c \
  tree-sitter-json/src/parser.c \
  tree-sitter/libtree-sitter.a \
  -o your-program

When using dynamic linking, ensure the shared library is discoverable through LD_LIBRARY_PATH or your system’s equivalent environment variable.

Verify installation

After installation, verify that Tree-sitter is working:

CLI

tree-sitter --version

Expected output:

tree-sitter 0.27.0

Rust

use tree_sitter::LANGUAGE_VERSION;

fn main() {
    println!("Tree-sitter ABI version: {}", LANGUAGE_VERSION);
}

JavaScript

import { Parser } from 'web-tree-sitter';

await Parser.init();
console.log('Tree-sitter loaded successfully');

Next steps

Quick start

Parse your first code file with Tree-sitter

Using parsers

Learn to work with syntax trees and nodes