# Install & update via download

## Installing a kit

The most simple way to install Kirby without any additional tools, is to download one of the existing Kits:

- <a href="https://download.getkirby.com/">Starterkit</a>
- <a href="https://github.com/getkirby/plainkit/archive/main.zip">Plainkit</a>
- <a href="https://github.com/getkirby/demokit/archive/main.zip">Demokit</a>

Once downloaded,

2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file into your server's <abbr title="The folder on a web server that holds the web pages for a specific website/domain. Also called docroot. Typical folder names are for example www, public_html or htdocs."><a href="https://getkirby.com/docs/glossary/#document-root">Document root</a></abbr>
3. Visit your new Kirby site in your browser at `yourdomain.com`
4. Visit the <abbr title="The Panel is Kirby's fast and powerful web interface to manage your website in the browser. The Panel is highly customizable in many ways for different project needs."><a href="https://getkirby.com/docs/glossary/#panel">Panel</a></abbr> at `yourdomain.com/panel`

## Updating your installation

To update Kirby, download the Kirby version you want to upgrade to <a href="https://github.com/getkirby/kirby/tags">from GitHub</a> and replace the `kirby` folder with the extracted zip folder (make sure to rename the unzipped folder to `kirby`.

Make sure to delete the `media` folder. It will be automatically recreated.

**If you use any plugins, make sure to update them as well.**

That's it! Because Kirby does not use a database by default, you don't have to run any database migrations.

<div class="box box--warning">
<div class="box-icon iconbox bg-black color-white"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true"><path d="M17.5 2.5L23 12L17.5 21.5H6.5L1 12L6.5 2.5H17.5ZM16.3469 4.5H7.65311L3.311 12L7.65311 19.5H16.3469L20.689 12L16.3469 4.5ZM11 15H13V17H11V15ZM11 7H13V13H11V7Z"/></svg></div>
<div class="box-text">
	<p>Kirby uses the <a href="https://semver.org">Semantic Versioning</a> scheme:<br />
{major}.{minor}(.{patch})</p>
<p><strong>Major releases</strong> (e.g 4.0 to 5.0) may contain breaking changes and deprecations. In such a case, you might have to update your code and plugins used in your installation. You can find breaking changes of a new release in the changelogs. If you are updating from older versions, multiple changelogs may apply. Always read them carefully to identify potential issues.</p>
<p><strong>Minor and patch releases</strong> (e.g. 4.1 to 4.2 or 4.1 to 4.1.1) can generally be applied without changes to your site code.</p>
<p>Note that the major version of Kirby 3 was the second number (e.g. the major version of Kirby 3.9.0 is 9). So e.g. updates from Kirby 3.8 to Kirby 3.9 also came with breaking changes.</p>
<p>In any case, please never update a live website directly on the server. Test updates locally first to see if something breaks.</p></div>
</div>