# Prerequisites
## Rust toolchain
Hornet requires **Rust 1.74 or later** (the minimum version declared in `Cargo.toml`).
Check your current version:
```sh
rustc --version
```
Install or update via [rustup](https://rustup.rs/):
```sh
# Install rustup (if not already installed)
# Update to the latest stable toolchain
rustup update stable
```
---
## Dependencies
Hornet's core dependencies are all pure Rust — no system libraries or C extensions are required.
| [`winnow`](https://crates.io/crates/winnow) | Parser combinator framework |
| [`thiserror`](https://crates.io/crates/thiserror) | Ergonomic error types |
| [`miette`](https://crates.io/crates/miette) | Rich diagnostic reporting with source spans |
### Optional dependencies
| `serde` | [`serde`](https://crates.io/crates/serde) | `Serialize`/`Deserialize` on all AST types |
---
## CLI prerequisites
The `hornet` CLI binary (enabled via the `cli` feature flag) has one additional dependency:
| [`clap`](https://crates.io/crates/clap) | Command-line argument parsing |
No other system dependencies are required. The CLI links statically and runs on any modern
Linux, macOS, or Windows system.
---
## Next Steps
- [Installation](./installation.md) — Library and CLI installation options
- [Quick Start](./quickstart.md) — Your first hornet integration