This page documents how to download ITK through Git. See our table of contents for more information.

Follow our Git download instructions to install Git.

Clone

Clone ITK using the commands
`$ git clone git://itk.org/ITK.git` `$ cd ITK`	`git help clone` Connection refused?
If you want to run tests, get the `Testing/Data` submodule:
`$ git submodule update --init`	`git help submodule`
Clone ITKApps using the commands
`$ cd ..` `$ git clone git://itk.org/ITKApps.git`	`git help clone`

Update

Users that have made no local changes and simply want to update a clone with the latest changes may run

$ git pull

$ git submodule update

Avoid making local changes unless you have read our developer instructions.

After cloning your local repository will be configured to follow the upstream master branch by default. This means you will have access to cutting edge features, but along with these may come cutting edge bugs :). One may create a local branch to track the upstream release branch instead, which should guarantee only bug fixes to the functionality available in the latest release:
`$ git checkout --track -b release origin/release` `$ git submodule update`	`git help checkout` `git help submodule`
This local branch will always follow the latest release. Use the above instructions to update it. Alternatively one may checkout a specific release tag:
`$ git checkout v3.20.0` `$ git submodule update`	`git help checkout` `git help submodule`
Release tags never move. Repeat the command with a different tag to get a different release. One may list available tags:
`$ git tag`	`git help tag`