> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.elementlabs.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # SDK version requirements > How a product states the SDK versions it accepts, and what it reports on a mismatch. Every product needs the `element_sdk` resource, and every product accepts only a range of SDK versions. This page describes how that requirement is expressed and exactly what happens when the installed SDK does not meet it. ## Contract A product declares one requirement against `element_sdk`: an operator and a version, recorded in the resource itself. You can read it in the product's `fxmanifest.lua`: ```lua theme={null} dependency_version "element_sdk:^0.1.0-alpha.3" ``` The requirement is checked when the product starts. If it is not met, the product stops before it registers anything. ## Inputs Two values are compared: the version of the installed `element_sdk` resource, and the requirement declared by the product. | Operator | Accepts | | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `^1.2.0` | Any version from `1.2.0` up to, but not including, `2.0.0`. Below `1.0.0` it is stricter: `^0.1.0` accepts `0.1.x` only. | | `~1.2.0` | Any version from `1.2.0` up to, but not including, `1.3.0`. | | `>=1.2.0` | That version or any later one. | | `>1.2.0` | Any version later than that one. | | `<=1.2.0`, `<1.2.0` | That version or earlier, and earlier only. | | `=1.2.0` | That exact version. | | `1.2.0` | With no operator, read as `>=1.2.0`. | A version can carry a pre-release suffix, such as `0.1.0-alpha.3`. A pre-release sorts before the plain version it leads to, so `0.1.0-alpha.3` is older than `0.1.0`. ## Outputs When the requirement is met, the product starts as expected and nothing is reported. The SDK version is visible at any time in the server console: ```text theme={null} version element_sdk ``` Quote both versions when you report a problem. See [Getting help](/support/contact). ## Errors Five situations are reported, each with its own console line. Only the third is a warning; the rest stop the product from starting. **The SDK is not installed, or the server does not know about it.** ```text theme={null} [ERROR] [Dependencies] Missing dependency 'element_sdk' (requires ^0.1.0-alpha.3). ``` **The SDK is installed but not running.** This is what you see when the SDK failed to start, or when it was stopped by hand. ```text theme={null} [ERROR] [Dependencies] Dependency 'element_sdk' is not started (state 'stopped', requires ^0.1.0-alpha.3). ``` **The SDK version cannot be read.** A warning, not an error: the product continues to start. It usually means the SDK directory was replaced with an incomplete copy. The same line covers a version that is present but not a readable version number, because from your side it is the same situation. ```text theme={null} [WARN ] [Dependencies] Cannot determine version of 'element_sdk' (requires ^0.1.0-alpha.3). ``` **The installed SDK is outside the accepted range.** ```text theme={null} [ERROR] [Dependencies] 'element_sdk' v0.1.0-alpha.1 does not satisfy required version ^0.1.0-alpha.3. ``` **The requirement itself cannot be read.** The requirement is written into the product's own `fxmanifest.lua` by its build, so this means that file was edited or the product was copied incompletely. There is no version left to check against, so the product does not start. ```text theme={null} [ERROR] [Dependencies] Declared requirement '^0.1.0-alpha' for 'element_sdk' is not a readable version constraint. ``` Each blocking case is followed by one line naming the product that refused to start: ```text theme={null} [ERROR] [ Sdk] Resource dependencies are not satisfied for 'element_map'. ``` The product then stops. It does finish starting first: a resource cannot stop itself on this server platform, so it asks the SDK to stop it, and the SDK does so on its next tick. `ensure element_map` therefore reports the resource started and then stopped a moment later, and the console shows both: ```text theme={null} Started resource element_map [ERROR] [ Sdk] Resource dependencies are not satisfied for 'element_map'. Stopping resource element_map ``` The end state is `stopped` rather than running with part of the SDK it expected. A product running against an SDK it was not built for fails later instead, in ways that are harder to trace. Because the SDK is what performs the stop, a product whose SDK is not running reports and then keeps running: there is nothing there to stop it. The report is still the answer: install or start `element_sdk`. The check can be turned off with the `el:dependencyCheck` server setting. That is a way to confirm a diagnosis, not a fix: the product will start and then misbehave. See [Server settings](/sdk/server-settings). ## Example A full transcript of a version mismatch, and the fix: ```text theme={null} [ERROR] [Dependencies] 'element_sdk' v0.1.0-alpha.1 does not satisfy required version ^0.1.0-alpha.3. [Sdk] Resource dependencies are not satisfied for 'element_map'. ``` Update `element_sdk` to a version that satisfies the requirement, then restart. Updating the SDK does not require updating the products that depend on it: a product accepts a range precisely so that later SDK releases inside that range need no action from you. ## Related * [Update a product or the SDK](/getting-started/updating) * [Releases and versions](/concepts/releases) * [A product does not start](/support/product-will-not-start) * [Server settings](/sdk/server-settings)