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This quickstart guide will help you get NATS Server up and running and send your first message in just a few minutes.

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Prerequisites

No special prerequisites are required. NATS Server is a single binary with no external dependencies.

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Get started

1

Install NATS Server

The fastest way to get started is using Docker:
docker pull nats:latest
Alternatively, download the binary for your platform from the GitHub releases page.For other installation methods, see the installation guide.
2

Start the server

Start NATS Server with default settings:
docker run -p 4222:4222 -p 8222:8222 nats:latest
You should see output indicating the server is running:
[1] 2026/03/04 12:00:00.000000 [INF] Starting nats-server
[1] 2026/03/04 12:00:00.000000 [INF]   Version:  2.x.x
[1] 2026/03/04 12:00:00.000000 [INF]   Git:      [not set]
[1] 2026/03/04 12:00:00.000000 [INF]   Listening for client connections on 0.0.0.0:4222
[1] 2026/03/04 12:00:00.000000 [INF]   Server is ready
The default client port is 4222. The monitoring port is 8222 when enabled with -m 8222.
3

Install the NATS CLI (optional)

For testing, install the NATS CLI tool:
# macOS
brew install nats-io/nats-tools/nats

# Linux/macOS (using curl)
curl -sf https://binaries.nats.dev/nats-io/natscli/nats@latest | sh

# Windows (using chocolatey)
choco install nats
The NATS CLI is also included in the Docker image at /bin/nats.
4

Subscribe to a subject

Open a new terminal and subscribe to a test subject:
nats sub test.subject
You should see:
12:00:00 Subscribing on test.subject
Leave this terminal open to receive messages.
5

Publish a message

In another terminal, publish a message:
nats pub test.subject "Hello NATS!"
In the subscriber terminal, you should see the message:
12:00:05 [#1] Received on "test.subject"
Hello NATS!
Try publishing multiple messages and watch them appear in real-time in the subscriber terminal!
6

Verify server status

Check the server monitoring endpoint:
curl http://localhost:8222/varz
This returns JSON with server statistics including connections, message counts, and memory usage.
The monitoring endpoint must be enabled with -m 8222 when starting the server, or configured in the configuration file with monitor_port: 8222.

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Common server options

Here are some commonly used command-line options: 
# Bind to specific address and port
nats-server -a 127.0.0.1 -p 4222

# Enable monitoring
nats-server -m 8222

# Enable JetStream with storage directory
nats-server -js --store_dir /data/nats

# Use configuration file
nats-server -c /path/to/nats-server.conf

# Enable debug logging
nats-server -D

# Enable authentication
nats-server --user admin --pass secret
For a complete list of options, run nats-server --help or see the configuration reference.

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Testing with client libraries

NATS has client libraries for over 40 programming languages. Here’s a quick example in a few popular languages: 
package main

import (
    "log"
    "github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
)

func main() {
    nc, err := nats.Connect(nats.DefaultURL)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer nc.Close()

    // Subscribe
    nc.Subscribe("test.subject", func(m *nats.Msg) {
        log.Printf("Received: %s", string(m.Data))
    })

    // Publish
    nc.Publish("test.subject", []byte("Hello NATS!"))
    nc.Flush()
}

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Next steps

Now that you have NATS Server running, explore these topics:

Configuration

Learn how to configure NATS Server for production

JetStream

Enable persistence and streaming with JetStream

Clustering

Set up high availability with clustering

Security

Secure your NATS deployment

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Troubleshooting

Ensure the server is running and listening on the correct port (default 4222). Check firewall settings if connecting from a different machine.
Check if another process is using port 4222. Use nats-server -p 4223 to use a different port. Enable debug logging with -D for more information.
Verify the subscriber is connected before publishing. Check that subject names match exactly (they are case-sensitive).

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Get help

If you need assistance:

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