Installation Tutorial for Windows

QuantRocket runs on Docker, so installing QuantRocket is a two-part process:

install Docker
install QuantRocket

Install Docker Desktop

For Windows 10 Home edition, you must first enable the WSL 2 feature on Windows.

Visit Docker's website and follow the instructions to download and install Docker Desktop on your computer.

If prompted during installation, do not check the box to use Windows containers. Docker Desktop for Windows can run Windows containers or Linux containers but not both at the same time. QuantRocket uses Linux containers.

Docker container mode

After the installation, start Docker Desktop if it isn't already started (Start > Docker).

To verify the installation, open PowerShell (click Start and type "powershell") and run:

$ docker run hello-world

If you run into any problems during installation, please refer to Docker's latest installation guide for Windows . QuantRocket simply requires a standard installation of Docker Desktop for Windows.

Adjust Docker's memory setting

If you do not see an option to adjust the memory setting in Docker, this means that memory usage will be dynamically allocated through Windows' WSL 2 backend. In that case, skip this section.

By default, Docker Desktop uses 2 GB of your system memory. Giving Docker at least 4 GB of memory is recommended for QuantRocket. Generally, reserve at least 4 GB for your operating system or your computer might be sluggish. This means your computer should have a minimum of 8 GB of memory. If you plan to collect minute data, 8-12 GB is recommended for Docker (12-16 GB total). The more memory you give Docker, the larger the backtests and data analysis you can do.

Find and right-click the Docker icon in the notification area, then click Settings.

Click Resources -> Advanced and adjust the Memory slider to the desired position.

Docker settings

Install QuantRocket

To install QuantRocket, download a Docker Compose file which tells Docker how to create the QuantRocket stack. A Compose file is a YAML file that defines a multi-container Docker application.

Open PowerShell on Windows (click Start and type "powershell").

Create a folder for QuantRocket under your home directory:

$ cd ~
$ mkdir quantrocket
$ cd quantrocket

Copy and paste the following command to download the latest Compose file and save to your computer:

$ curl 'https://www.quantrocket.com/composefiles/latest/local/docker-compose.yml' -o docker-compose.yml

(You can also download the Compose file from the downloads page.)

Now, use docker-compose to deploy QuantRocket:

$ cd ~/quantrocket
$ docker-compose -p quantrocket up -d

Docker Compose will read your docker-compose.yml, pull the images down from Docker Hub, and create and run containers from the images. This process takes 5-15 minutes. You will see output like this:

Output

Creating network "quantrocket_default" with the default driver
Pulling houston (quantrocket/houston:0.8.0)...
ad74af05f5a2: Pull complete
c1da3f388f16: Extracting [============================================>      ]  110.3MB/125.3MB
3f388f16: Downloading [===========================================>       ]    108MB/125.3MBte
4c2b7a4aefc0: Download complete
e61a44100a50: Download complete
8e960303c169: Waiting
f2a1d6599d9d: Waiting

You can list all the containers that are running:

$ docker ps

Output

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                           NAMES
476bd8607707        quantrocket/history:0.2.6           "/usr/bin/tini -- ..."   37 seconds ago      Up 33 seconds       80/tcp                          quantrocket_history_1
96e93387015c        quantrocket/master:0.2.11           "/usr/bin/tini -- ..."   37 seconds ago      Up 32 seconds       80/tcp                          quantrocket_master_1
fc4b87285158        quantrocket/jupyter:4.4.0.7         "/usr/bin/tini -- ..."   38 seconds ago      Up 33 seconds       80/tcp                          quantrocket_jupyter_1
...

You can now access the Jupyter environment in your browser at:

http://localhost:1969

You may want to bookmark this URL.

In JupyterLab you'll see the JupyterLab dashboard. Click the Quickstart button to find an interactive tour and other resources to help you get started with QuantRocket:

JupyterLab home