# Seeking Guidance on Compiling P4 Programs in Open P4 Studio **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [July 5, 2025, 11:34am UTC](https://forum.p4.org/t/seeking-guidance-on-compiling-p4-programs-in-open-p4-studio/1344 "2025-07-05T11:34:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![1418915702](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9fc29f/32.png) [@1418915702](https://forum.p4.org/u/1418915702)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 11:34am UTC](https://forum.p4.org/t/seeking-guidance-on-compiling-p4-programs-in-open-p4-studio/1344/1 "2025-07-05T11:34:17Z")
I am a new PhD student working with Open P4 Studio. On the official GitHub, I only found a test example (which I’ve successfully run), but now I need to run my own P4 program and inspect its pipeline stages. After discussing with my senior, he mentioned that I must first _“make” the P4 program_ to analyze the resulting `.bfa` files. As a beginner, I’m unsure how to properly compile and build P4 programs. Could you kindly advise: 1. Where can I find relevant documentation for this process? 2. If possible, could you share the specific commands/steps to compile `.p4` programs? I would be immensely grateful for any guidance! Thank you in advance. ---
**Author:** ![andyfingerhut](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.p4.org/andyfingerhut/32/17_2.png) [@andyfingerhut](https://forum.p4.org/u/andyfingerhut)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2025, 11:39am UTC](https://forum.p4.org/t/seeking-guidance-on-compiling-p4-programs-in-open-p4-studio/1344/2 "2025-07-05T11:39:47Z")
This document was recently added to the open-p4studio repository. Please read it, try out the instructions there (after installing the open-p4studio code following instructions in the top level README) to see if they answer any of your questions: [open-p4studio/docs/P4-Compilation.md at main · p4lang/open-p4studio · GitHub](https://github.com/p4lang/open-p4studio/blob/main/docs/P4-Compilation.md)