Develop

Prerequisites for installing Unreal Engine

Updated: Apr 14, 2026

To develop Meta Horizon OS apps with Unreal Engine, you must meet the following prerequisites before installing and configuring your environment:

Hardware and software that meets or exceeds minimum requirements

A verified Meta developer account

Epic Games and GitHub accounts that are linked

Membership in a development team

After completing these prerequisites, you can proceed to installing Unreal Engine and configuring the rest of your development environment.

Note: Several steps in this setup require you to use the Epic Games Unreal Engine documentation and other external resources. You’ll find links to these resources in the sections below.

Hardware and software requirements

To develop for Meta Horizon OS, you need a development PC and a Meta Quest headset. This section discusses the hardware and software requirements so you can begin development.

Development platform

You can develop Meta Horizon OS apps on the following operating systems:

Windows

macOS

Linux

Note: The MetaXR Simulator requires Windows.

PC requirements

For PC system requirements, see Hardware and Software Specifications⁠ in the Unreal Engine documentation.

Plan for at least 50 GB of free disk space for an Unreal Engine installation through the Epic Games Launcher. Source builds from the Meta fork require additional space.

VR hardware requirements

You need the following VR hardware:

Meta Quest series headset

Meta Quest Touch controllers

USB-C cable

Creating and verifying your Meta developer account

To create and verify a Meta Developer Account

Create a Meta developer account by following Creating a Meta developer account.

While logged in, verify your account at Verifying your Meta account⁠. Provide one of the following:

A valid mobile phone number for SMS two-factor authentication. Your country and carrier must support SMS push notifications. For a list of supported countries and carriers, see Set up texts⁠.

A credit or debit card for verification purposes. Note: PayPal is not supported for verifying an account.

Confirm that you have successfully verified your account by using the verification page⁠.

Creating and linking your Epic Games and GitHub accounts

You also need an Epic Games account and a GitHub account. Link these accounts after you set them up.

To create and link your accounts

Create and verify an Epic Games account⁠.

Link your Epic Games and GitHub accounts at Accessing Unreal Source Code on GitHub⁠.

Joining a development team

Your Meta developer account must be part of a Meta-registered team to develop Meta Horizon OS apps. You can join an existing team or create a new one for your work.

Joining an existing team

If the team already exists, contact a team admin and request that your developer account be added. Your account joins the team automatically after approval.

Creating a team yourself

You can also create a new team if one does not exist. You can create a new team in the Developer Dashboard⁠.

To create a new team

In the Developer Dashboard⁠, under Org Manager, click Select Team and then click Create.

Choose a name for your team. This should be the legal name of your team, and not a nickname. Meta uses this as the developer display name for any app that your team publishes to the Meta Horizon Store.

Note: Once you create your team’s name, you cannot change it from the Developer Dashboard.

Double-check your team name to ensure you are satisfied with the name you entered.

Select the I agree box, and then click Submit.

Review the Developer Non-Disclosure Agreement and then click I Agree to accept it.

Click Submit to finish.