Installation Guides
Use this section to bootstrap documentation tooling quickly and consistently across local and team environments.
Scope
- Local setup for documentation projects
- Baseline toolchain for authors and reviewers
- Cross-platform install commands and validation checks
- Common setup failures and practical fixes
Recommended baseline
For this portal, standardize on:
- Node.js LTS (or newer supported version)
- Yarn or npm
- Git
- VS Code with Markdown linting/spellcheck extensions
Prerequisites
- Terminal access with install permissions
- Basic familiarity with command-line workflows
- Network access for package installation
Docusaurus setup (primary path)
1) Install Node.js
# Windows (using Chocolatey)
choco install nodejs
# macOS (using Homebrew)
brew install node
# Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt install nodejs npm
2) Verify
node --version
npm --version
3) Create and run
npx create-docusaurus@latest my-website classic
cd my-website
npm start
The local site runs at http://localhost:3000.
Alternative stack: MkDocs
Quick setup
pip install mkdocs
pip install mkdocs-material
mkdocs new my-project
cd my-project
mkdocs serve
Editor setup (VS Code)
Recommended Extensions
- Markdown All in One - Enhanced Markdown support
- markdownlint - Markdown linting
- Code Spell Checker - Spell checking
- Prettier - Code formatting
- GitLens - Git integration
Install Extensions
code --install-extension yzhang.markdown-all-in-one
code --install-extension DavidAnson.vscode-markdownlint
code --install-extension streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker
Troubleshooting quick fixes
Common Issues
Node version mismatch
# Use nvm to manage Node versions
nvm install 18
nvm use 18
Permission errors
# Fix npm permissions on Linux/macOS
mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH
Port in use
npm start -- --port 3001
Next Steps
Support
Need help with setup? Contact support.