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# Set up your development environment
This document will guide you to set up your development environment to efficiently and properly use Medusa.
## Required Tools
To get your development environment ready you need to install the following tools:
### Node.js
Node.js is the environment that makes it possible for Medusa to run, so you must install Node.js on your computer to start Medusa development.
:::caution
Medusa supports versions 14 and 16 of Node.js. You can check your Node.js version using the following command:
```bash noReport
node -v
```
:::
You can install the executable directly from [the Node.js website](https://nodejs.org/en/#home-downloadhead).
For other approaches, you can check out [Node.js’s guide](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/#windows-1).
You can use the following commands to install Node.js on Ubuntu:
```bash
#Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nodejs
```
For other Linux distributions, you can check out [Node.js’s guide](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/).
You can use the following commands to install Node.js on macOS:
```bash
brew install node
```
```bash
curl \
"https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/node-${VERSION:-$(wget -qO- \
https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/ | sed -nE \
's|.*>node-(.*)\.pkg.*|\1|p')}.pkg" \
> "$HOME/Downloads/node-latest.pkg" &&
sudo installer -store -pkg "$HOME/Downloads/node-latest.pkg" -target "/"
```
For other approaches, you can check out [Node.js’s guide](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/#macos).
:::tip
Make sure that you have Xcode command line tools installed; if not, run the following command to install it: `xcode-select --install`
:::
### Git
Medusa uses Git behind the scenes when you create a new project so you'll have to install it on your computer to get started.
To install Git on Windows, you need to [download the installable package](https://git-scm.com/download/win).
For Debian/Ubuntu, you can use the following command:
```bash
apt-get install git
```
As for other Linux distributions, please check [git’s guide](https://git-scm.com/download/linux).
You should already have Git installed as part of the Xcode command-line tools.
However, if for any reason you need to install it manually, you can install it with Homebrew:
```bash
brew install git
```
You can also check out [git’s guide](https://git-scm.com/download/mac) for more installation options.
### Medusa CLI
The final installation required to get started with Medusa is the Medusa CLI. It is an NPM package you can install globally on your machine to get instant access to commands that help you manage and run your Medusa project.
You can install Medusa’s CLI with the following command:
```bash npm2yarn
npm install @medusajs/medusa-cli -g
```
You can check that Medusa was installed by running the following command:
```bash noReport
medusa -v
```
:::note
If you run into any errors while installing the CLI tool, check out the [troubleshooting guide](../troubleshooting/cli-installation-errors.mdx).
:::
---
## Install Medusa Server
If you're not interested in installing the optional tools and want to get started quickly, check out the [quickstart guide](../quickstart/quick-start.mdx).
---
## Optional Tools
These tools are not required to have to run a Medusa server, but it's highly recommended that you have them installed.
### PostgreSQL
Although you can use an SQLite database with Medusa which would require no necessary database installations, it is recommended to use a PostgreSQL database for your server.
:::tip
After installing PostgreSQL, check out the [Configure your Server documentation](../usage/configurations.md#postgresql-configurations) to learn how to configure PostgreSQL to work with Medusa.
:::
You can [download the PostgreSQL Windows installer](https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/) from their website.
If you’re using Ubuntu, you can use the following commands to download and install PostgreSQL:
```bash
sudo sh -c \
'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'
wget --quiet -O - \
https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install postgresql
```
For other distributions, you can check out [PostgreSQL’s website for more guides](https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/).
You can download PostgreSQL on your macOS using [the installer on their website](https://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/).
Make sure the Docker Desktop app is running, then run the following command to quickly spin up a PostgreSQL instance:
```bash
docker run --name postgres -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres \
-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres -e \
POSTGRES_DB=medusa-docker -p 5432:5432 -d postgres
```
Where:
- `--name` creates a new container named `postgres`.
- `-e` creates environment variables `POSTGRES_USER`, `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` and `POSTGRES_DB`. These will be used to set up a database named `medusa-docker` with the username and password being `postgres`.
- `-p` maps the container port `5432` to the external host `5432`. This allows you to connect to the database server from outside of the container.
- `-d` enables Docker to run the container in the background.
- The last section of the command, `postgres` grabs the latest postgres image from the Docker hub.
### Redis
Medusa uses Redis as the event queue in the server. If you want to use subscribers to handle events such as when an order is placed and perform actions based on the events, then you need to install and configure Redis.
If you don’t install and configure Redis with your Medusa server, then it will work without any events-related features.
:::tip
After installing Redis, check out the [Configure your Server documentation](../usage/configurations.md#redis) to learn how to configure Redis to work with Medusa.
:::
To use Redis on Windows, you must have [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) enabled](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install). This lets you run Linux binaries on Windows.
After installing and enabling WSL2, if you use an Ubuntu distribution you can run the following commands to install Redis:
```bash
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:redislabs/redis
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install redis-server
## Start Redis server
sudo service redis-server start
```
If you use Ubuntu you can use the following commands to install Redis:
```bash
curl -fsSL https://packages.redis.io/gpg | \
sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/redis-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/redis-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.redis.io/deb $(lsb_release -cs) main" \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/redis.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install redis
## Start Redis server
sudo service redis-server start
```
For other distributions, you can check out [Redis’ guide on this](https://redis.io/docs/getting-started/installation/install-redis-on-linux/).
You can install Redis on macOS using Homebrew with the following command:
```bash
brew install redis
## Start Redis server
brew services start redis
```
To install Redis without Homebrew you can check out [Redis’s guide on installing it from source](https://redis.io/docs/getting-started/installation/install-redis-from-source/).
---
## See Also
- [Install Medusa server](../quickstart/quick-start.mdx)
- [Configure your Medusa server](../usage/configurations.md).
- Install a storefront with [Next.js](../starters/nextjs-medusa-starter.mdx) or [Gatsby](./../starters/gatsby-medusa-starter.mdx).
- [Install the Medusa Admin](../admin/quickstart.mdx).