---
title: Getting Started with Geth
permalink: docs/getting-started
sort_key: A
---

To use Geth, you need to install it first. You can install the geth software in a variety
of ways. These include installing it via your favorite package manager; downloading a
standalone pre-built binary; running as a docker container; or building it yourself.

For this tutorial, we'll assume you are comfortable with downloading a pre-built binary.
Head over to the [install and build](./install-and-build/installing-geth) section and
follow the instructions for your operating system if you wish to use a different
installation method.

### Downloading Geth

We distribute all our stable releases and development builds as standalone binaries. These
are useful for scenarios where you'd like to: a) install a specific version of our code
(e.g., for reproducible environments); b) install on machines without internet access
(e.g., air gapped computers); or c) do not like automatic updates and would rather
manually install software.

To download Geth, go to the [Downloads page](https://geth.ethereum.org/downloads) and
select the latest stable release matching your platform.

We create the following archives:

-   32bit, 64bit, ARMv5, ARMv6, ARMv7 and ARM64 archives (`.tar.gz`) on Linux
-   64bit archives (`.tar.gz`) on macOS
-   32bit and 64bit archives (`.zip`) and installers (`.exe`) on Windows

For all binaries we provide two options, one containing only Geth, and another containing
Geth along with all the developer tools from our repository (`abigen`, `bootnode`,
`disasm`, `evm`, `rlpdump`). Read our
[`README`](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum#executables) for more information about
these executables.

### Creating an account

Before starting Geth you first need to create an account that represents a key pair. Use
the following command to create a new account and set a password for that account:

```shell
geth account new
```

_[Read this guide](./interface/managing-your-accounts) for more details on importing
existing Ethereum accounts and other uses of the `account` command._

### Sync modes

Running Geth starts an Ethereum node that can join any existing network, or create a new
one. You can start Geth in one of three different sync modes using the `--syncmode "{mode}"`
argument that determines what sort of node it is in the network.

These are:

-   **Full**: Downloads all blocks (including headers, transactions and receipts) and
    generates the state of the blockchain incrementally by executing every block.
-   **Fast** (Default): Downloads all blocks (including headers, transactions and
    receipts), verifies all headers, and downloads the state and verifies it against the
    headers.
-   **Light**: Downloads all block headers, block data, and verifies some randomly.

For example:

```shell
geth --syncmode "light"
```

### Javascript Console

Once you have an account and Geth is running, you can interact with it by opening another
terminal and using the following command to open a JavaScript console:

```shell
geth attach
```

In the console you can issue any of the Geth commands, for example, to list all the
accounts on the node, use:

```js
> eth.accounts
```

You can also enter the console directly when you start the node with the `console` command:

```shell
geth console --syncmode "light"
```