Walkthrough · Project build
Ship your first web project
Setup
Three free installs and one folder. Do this once, and every project after this starts in minutes.
Before you build anything, your computer needs three things: a terminal to type commands in, Node.js to run your project, and Git to save its history. It sounds like a lot. It takes about fifteen minutes, and most of that is waiting for downloads.
Your computer
1. Open a terminal. Press the Windows key, type Terminal and press Enter. That opens Windows Terminal running PowerShell, which is all you need. On Windows 10, if Terminal does not appear, open PowerShell from the Start menu instead.
2. Install Node.js. Download the LTS version for Windows from nodejs.org and run the installer, keeping every default. 3. Install Git. Download Git for Windows and run the installer. The defaults are fine, and you get Git Bash as a bonus. When both are installed, close your terminal and open a new one, so it can find them.
4. Check it worked. Paste these into the terminal and press Enter:
bash
node -v
npm -v
git --versionWhat you should see
Three lines, each with a version number. Any numbers are fine. An error such as not recognized or command not found means that install did not finish, or the terminal was already open before you installed it. Close it, open a new one and try again.1. Open a terminal. Press Cmd+Space, type Terminal and press Enter.
2. Install Node.js. Download the LTS version for macOS from nodejs.org and run the installer. Then quit Terminal with Cmd+Q and open it again, so it can find Node. 3. Install Git. Type git --version and press Enter. If Git is missing, your Mac offers to install the command line developer tools, which include it. Click Install and wait for it to finish.
4. Check it worked. Paste these into Terminal and press Enter:
bash
node -v
npm -v
git --versionWhat you should see
Three lines, each with a version number. Any numbers are fine. An error such as not recognized or command not found means that install did not finish, or the terminal was already open before you installed it. Close it, open a new one and try again.1. Open a terminal. On Ubuntu, press Ctrl+Alt+T.
2. Install Node.js. The version in your system's software store is often years out of date, so use nodejs.org instead: choose Linux and nvm, then run the commands it shows, one at a time. Open a new terminal when it finishes. 3. Install Git. On Ubuntu or Debian, run sudo apt install git. It asks for your password, and nothing appears while you type it. That is normal: type it and press Enter.
4. Check it worked. Paste these into the terminal and press Enter:
bash
node -v
npm -v
git --versionWhat you should see
Three lines, each with a version number. Any numbers are fine. An error such as not recognized or command not found means that install did not finish, or the terminal was already open before you installed it. Close it, open a new one and try again.Tell Git who you are. Every save, called a commit, is labelled with a name and email. Use the email you will sign up to GitHub with, and keep the quote marks.
bash
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"What you should see
Nothing at all. No message means it worked.Make a home for your projects. Keep them together in one folder inside your user folder. Not on the Desktop, and not inside OneDrive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox: sync apps fight over the thousands of small files a project installs, and things break in confusing ways.
bash
cd ~
mkdir projects
cd projectsWhat you should see
On Windows, a short table naming the new folder. On Mac and Linux, nothing. Either way, the line before your cursor now ends in projects. Next time, open a terminal and run cd ~/projects to get back here.Stuck? Pick a prompt and ask your AI tool
I am setting up my computer for web development for the first time. My computer: [Windows, Mac or Linux] What I was installing: [Node.js or Git] The command I ran: [paste it] What I saw: [paste the full message] Explain what went wrong in plain words, then give me the exact steps to fix it, one at a time.
Open it in your AI tool. Clicking copies the prompt, and ChatGPT and Grok open with it already filled in.
- Claude(opens in a new tab)
- ChatGPT(opens in a new tab)
- Qwen(opens in a new tab)
- DeepSeek(opens in a new tab)
- Kimi(opens in a new tab)
- Grok(opens in a new tab)
More tools
App builders, in your browser:
Code editors on your computer. Open app only works once it is installed, so use Get it first if you do not have it.
- CursorOpen appGet it(opens in a new tab)
- VS CodeOpen appGet it(opens in a new tab)
- Antigravity IDEOpen appGet it(opens in a new tab)
- Antigravity 2.0Open appGet it(opens in a new tab)
Want the full list? Browse all app builders and coding editors (IDEs).
- Opened a terminal
- Installed Node.js and saw its version number
- Installed Git and told it my name and email
- Made a projects folder outside OneDrive and iCloud
- Sign in to tick these off and pick up where you left them.
Tools used in this build
Everything this walkthrough reaches for, with the directory entry for each.