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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.

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Prerequisites

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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

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Get the Source Code

Choose one of these methods:

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Building the Project

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Quick Build

From the project root directory: 
dotnet build -c Release -o build
Built files will be created in the build/ directory.

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Build Configuration Options

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

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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”

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Publishing Ryujinx

For a self-contained executable: 
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 -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.

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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

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System Files Location

After building, Ryujinx stores its system files in the user folder: 
C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\Ryujinx
Access via: File → Open Ryujinx Folder in the GUI
~/.config/Ryujinx
or
~/.local/share/Ryujinx

~/Library/Application Support/Ryujinx

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Supported Platforms

Ryujinx builds for multiple platforms (from .github/workflows/build.yml:21-25):
PlatformRuntime IDOS Runner
Windows x64win-x64windows-latest
Windows ARM64win-arm64windows-latest
Linux x64linux-x64ubuntu-latest
Linux ARM64linux-arm64ubuntu-latest
macOS x64osx-x64macos-13
macOS Universalosx-universalCustom build

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Troubleshooting

Error: The current .NET SDK does not support targeting .NET 10.0Solution: Install .NET 10.0 SDK or higher. Verify with:
dotnet --list-sdks
Solution: Clean and rebuild:
dotnet clean
dotnet build -c Release
Solution: Restore NuGet packages:
dotnet restore
dotnet build -c Release
Linux: Install required dependencies:
sudo apt-get install -y libx11-dev libxrandr-dev
macOS: Install Xcode Command Line Tools:
xcode-select --install

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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

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IDE Setup

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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

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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

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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

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Next Steps

Coding Style

Learn Ryujinx’s C# conventions

Debugging

Set up debugging tools

Testing

Run and write tests

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