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Prepare Development Environment

This document will guide you to prepare 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.

Medusa supports v16 or greater of Node.js. You can check your Node.js version using the following command:

node -v

You can install the executable directly from the Node.js website.

For other approaches, you can check out Node.js’s guide.

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.

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:

npm install @medusajs/medusa-cli -g

You can check that Medusa was installed by running the following command:

medusa -v

Troubleshooting Installation

NPM Error: EACCES Permissions Errors

If you install the Medusa CLI tool with NPM and get a permission error, NPM proposes as a solution either re-installing NPM with a node version manager (nvm), or manually setting npm’s default directory.

You can check out more information in NPM’s documentation.

Powershell Error: command not found: medusa

If you're using Powershell and you installed the CLI tool, but when you try to use it you get the error:

command not found: medusa

Try closing your Powershell window and opening a new one.

Yarn Error: command not found: medusa

If you install the Medusa CLI tool with Yarn, then try to use the CLI tool but get the error:

command not found: medusa

You have to add Yarn’s install location to the PATH variable:

export PATH="$(yarn global bin):$PATH"

You can learn more in Yarn’s documentation.

PostgreSQL

The Medusa backend uses PostgreSQL to store data of your commerce system.

After installing PostgreSQL, check out the Configure your Backend documentation to learn how to configure PostgreSQL to work with Medusa.

You can download the PostgreSQL Windows installer from their website.


Install Medusa Backend

If you're not interested in installing the optional tools and want to get started with Medusa quickly, check out the Medusa Backend Quickstart.

See Also

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