[CUBA Platform](https://www.cuba-platform.com) is a high level framework for rapid development of enterprise applications with rich web interface.
The simplest way to start using the platform is to [download](https://www.cuba-platform.com/download) CUBA Studio and create a new project in it. A released version of the platform will be downloaded automatically from the artifact repository.
You can also build a snapshot version of the platform from the source code and use it in your project.
## Building from Source
In order to build the platform from source, you need to install the following:
Let's assume that you have cloned CUBA Gradle Plugin and CUBA into the following directories:
```
work/
cuba/
cuba-gradle-plugin/
```
Open terminal in the `work` directory and run the following command to build and install the plugin into your local Maven repository (`~/.m2`):
```
cd cuba-gradle-plugin
gradle install
```
After that, go to the CUBA directory and build and install it with the same command:
```
cd ../cuba
gradle install
```
## Using Snapshot Version
Edit the `build.gradle` file of your project. Change the `ext.cubaVersion` property and add `mavenLocal()` to the `repositories` section, for example:
```
buildscript {
ext.cubaVersion = '6.2-SNAPSHOT'
repositories {
mavenLocal()
maven { ...
```
That's all. Now you can generate IDE project files and build and deploy your application based on the snapshot version of the platform from your local repository:
