Building Ryujinx

Learn how to compile Ryujinx from source code

Overview

Building Ryujinx from source is intended for developers who want to contribute code. If you just want to use the emulator, download pre-built releases instead.

This guide is for contributors only. Regular users should download official builds from the releases page.

Prerequisites

Install .NET SDK

1. Download .NET 10.0 SDK

   Install the .NET 10.0 (or higher) SDK

2. Verify SDK version

   Your SDK version must meet or exceed the version specified in global.json:

   global.json

   {
     "sdk": {
       "version": "10.0.100",
       "rollForward": "latestFeature"
     }
   }
   
3. Confirm installation

   dotnet --version
   

   Should output version 10.0.100 or higher

Get the Source Code

Choose one of these methods:

Git Clone (Recommended)

git clone https://git.ryujinx.app/ryubing/ryujinx.git
cd ryujinx

Download ZIP

1. Click Code → Download ZIP on GitHub
2. Extract the archive
3. Navigate to the extracted folder

Building the Project

Quick Build

From the project root directory:

dotnet build -c Release -o build

Built files will be created in the build/ directory.

Build Configuration Options

Debug Build

# Build with debugging symbols
dotnet build -c Debug -o build

Platform Access on Windows

On Windows, you can quickly open a command prompt in File Explorer:

1. Hold Shift and right-click in the folder
2. Select “Open command window here” or “Open PowerShell window here”

Publishing Ryujinx

For a self-contained executable:

Windows x64

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 -o publish src/Ryujinx --self-contained

Linux x64

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 -o publish src/Ryujinx --self-contained

macOS Universal

dotnet publish -c Release -r osx-x64 -o publish src/Ryujinx --self-contained

Linux ARM64

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-arm64 -o publish src/Ryujinx --self-contained

Self-contained builds include the .NET runtime, making them larger but not requiring .NET SDK installation on the target system.

CI Build Commands

The GitHub Actions CI uses these commands (from .github/workflows/build.yml:54):

Build

dotnet build -c Release -p:Version="1.2.0" -p:SourceRevisionId="abc1234" -p:ExtraDefineConstants=DISABLE_UPDATER

Test

dotnet test --no-build -c Release

Publish

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 -o ./publish \
  -p:Version="1.2.0" \
  -p:DebugType=embedded \
  -p:SourceRevisionId="abc1234" \
  -p:ExtraDefineConstants=DISABLE_UPDATER \
  src/Ryujinx --self-contained

System Files Location

After building, Ryujinx stores its system files in the user folder:

Windows

C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\Ryujinx

Access via: File → Open Ryujinx Folder in the GUI

Linux

~/.config/Ryujinx

or

~/.local/share/Ryujinx

macOS

~/Library/Application Support/Ryujinx

Supported Platforms

Ryujinx builds for multiple platforms (from .github/workflows/build.yml:21-25):

Platform	Runtime ID	OS Runner
Windows x64	win-x64	windows-latest
Windows ARM64	win-arm64	windows-latest
Linux x64	linux-x64	ubuntu-latest
Linux ARM64	linux-arm64	ubuntu-latest
macOS x64	osx-x64	macos-13
macOS Universal	osx-universal	Custom build

Troubleshooting

SDK version mismatch

Error: The current .NET SDK does not support targeting .NET 10.0

Solution: Install .NET 10.0 SDK or higher. Verify with:

dotnet --list-sdks

Build errors after git pull

Solution: Clean and rebuild:

dotnet clean
dotnet build -c Release

Missing dependencies

Solution: Restore NuGet packages:

dotnet restore
dotnet build -c Release

Platform-specific build failures

Linux: Install required dependencies:

sudo apt-get install -y libx11-dev libxrandr-dev

macOS: Install Xcode Command Line Tools:

xcode-select --install

Build Performance Tips

Use parallel builds for faster compilation:

dotnet build -c Release -m:8

Replace 8 with your CPU core count.

Incremental builds are faster - only rebuild changed files:

dotnet build -c Release --no-restore

IDE Setup

Visual Studio (Windows)

1. Install Visual Studio 2022

   Download Visual Studio 2022 or later

2. Install .NET workload

   Select the .NET desktop development workload during installation

3. Open solution

   Open Ryujinx.sln in Visual Studio

4. Build

   Press F6 or select Build → Build Solution

Visual Studio Code (Cross-platform)

1. Install VS Code

   Download Visual Studio Code

2. Install C# extension

   Install the C# Dev Kit extension

3. Open folder

   Open the Ryujinx repository folder

4. Build from terminal

   Use the integrated terminal:

   dotnet build -c Release
   

Rider (Cross-platform)

1. Install JetBrains Rider

   Download JetBrains Rider

2. Open solution

   Open Ryujinx.sln

3. Build

   Press Ctrl+Shift+F9 or select Build → Build Solution

Next Steps

Coding Style

Learn Ryujinx’s C# conventions

Debugging

Set up debugging tools

Testing

Run and write tests