Beginner

Installing JAX

Get JAX running on your machine with CPU, GPU (NVIDIA CUDA), or TPU support. We also cover installing the JAX ecosystem libraries you will need.

CPU-Only Installation

Bash
# CPU-only (works on all platforms)
pip install jax

GPU Installation (NVIDIA CUDA)

Bash
# GPU support with CUDA 12
pip install jax[cuda12]

# Or specify CUDA version explicitly
pip install jax[cuda12_pip] -f https://storage.googleapis.com/jax-releases/jax_cuda_releases.html
Prerequisites: For GPU support, you need an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA 12+ and cuDNN installed. Check your CUDA version with nvcc --version.

TPU Installation (Google Cloud)

Bash
# On a TPU VM (Google Cloud)
pip install jax[tpu] -f https://storage.googleapis.com/jax-releases/libtpu_releases.html

Install the JAX Ecosystem

Bash
# Neural network libraries
pip install flax       # Google's neural network library for JAX
pip install optax      # Gradient processing and optimization

# Alternative neural network library
pip install dm-haiku   # DeepMind's Haiku

# Useful extras
pip install orbax-checkpoint  # Model checkpointing
pip install clu               # Common loop utilities

Verify Your Installation

Python
import jax
import jax.numpy as jnp

# Check version
print(f"JAX version: {jax.__version__}")

# Check available devices
print(f"Devices: {jax.devices()}")

# Quick test: create an array and compute
x = jnp.array([1.0, 2.0, 3.0])
print(f"Sum: {jnp.sum(x)}")
print(f"Device: {x.devices()}")

# Test JIT compilation
@jax.jit
def f(x):
    return jnp.dot(x, x)

result = f(jnp.ones(1000))
print(f"JIT works! Result: {result}")
Google Colab: The easiest way to try JAX with GPU/TPU support is Google Colab. JAX comes pre-installed - just select a GPU or TPU runtime and start coding.

Next Up: Core Concepts

Now that JAX is installed, let's dive into the core concepts: DeviceArrays, JIT compilation, automatic differentiation, and vectorization.

Next: Core Concepts →

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