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Installation

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.10 or higher
  • uv (recommended) or pip

Quick Install

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/whanyu1212/QuantRL-Lab.git
cd QuantRL-Lab

# Install all dependencies
uv sync

# Install with specific extras
uv sync --extra dev --extra notebooks

# Activate virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/whanyu1212/QuantRL-Lab.git
cd QuantRL-Lab

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# Install package
pip install -e ".[dev,notebooks]"

Environment Setup

QuantRL-Lab requires API keys for data sources. Copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env and add your API keys:

# Alpaca Trading API (for data & live trading)
ALPACA_API_KEY=your_key_here
ALPACA_SECRET_KEY=your_secret_here
ALPACA_BASE_URL=https://paper-api.alpaca.markets  # Paper trading

# Alpha Vantage (for alternative data)
ALPHA_VANTAGE_API_KEY=your_key_here

Getting API Keys

YFinance requires no API key

The YFinanceDataLoader works out of the box with no configuration. It's the easiest way to get started.

Verify Installation

# Check imports
python -c "from quantrl_lab import environments, data, experiments; print('Installation successful')"

# Run tests
pytest

Jupyter Setup (Optional)

For running notebooks:

# Install Jupyter kernel
python -m ipykernel install --user --name quantrl-lab --display-name "QuantRL-Lab"

# Start Jupyter
jupyter notebook
# Then select "QuantRL-Lab" kernel in notebook

Troubleshooting

Import Error: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'quantrl_lab'

Ensure you're in the virtual environment: 

source .venv/bin/activate  # Unix/Mac
.venv\Scripts\activate     # Windows

API Key Errors

Verify .env file exists and contains valid keys: 

cat .env | grep ALPACA_API_KEY

Dependency Conflicts

Reinstall with clean environment: 

rm -rf .venv
uv sync --extra dev

Next Steps