Installation

Install Velat on your machine in under 5 minutes. No prior Next.js experience required.

Before you start

You need two things installed on your computer:

1. Node.js version 20.9 or later

2. npm — comes bundled with Node.js, no separate install

If you already have both, skip to Step 2.

Step 1: Install Node.js

Windows

1. Open https://nodejs.org in your browser

2. Click the big green button labeled LTS (left side)

3. Download the .msi file

4. Double-click the file to run the installer

5. Click Next through every screen

6. Accept the license terms

7. Click Install

8. Wait 1–2 minutes

9. Click Finish

10. Restart your computer — this is required

macOS

1. Open https://nodejs.org in your browser

2. Click the big green button labeled LTS

3. Download the .pkg file

4. Double-click the file to run the installer

5. Click Continue through every screen

6. Click Install

7. Enter your password when asked

8. Click Close

Verify the installation

Open a terminal:

―Windows: Press Windows + R, type cmd, press Enter
―macOS: Press Cmd + Space, type Terminal, press Enter

Type this and press Enter:

node --version

You should see something like v22.10.0. If you see a version number, you're ready.

If you see an error like "node is not recognized", restart your computer and try again.

Step 2: Open a terminal

You need a terminal window open inside the project folder.

Windows

1. Open File Explorer

2. Navigate to the folder containing this kit

3. Click the address bar at the top

4. Type cmd

5. Press Enter

A black terminal window opens, already pointed at your project folder.

macOS

1. Open Finder

2. Navigate to the folder containing this kit

3. Right-click the folder

4. Select New Terminal at Folder

A terminal window opens, already pointed at your project folder.

Step 3: Install dependencies

In the terminal, type this and press Enter:

npm install

This downloads every package the kit needs. It takes 1–3 minutes depending on your internet speed.

What you'll see:

―Lots of gray text scrolling by — this is normal
―Yellow warnings — also normal
―Only stop if you see a red Error message

When it finishes, you'll see something like:

added 164 packages in 2m

Step 4: Start the development server

In the same terminal, type this and press Enter:

npm run dev

Wait a few seconds. You'll see:

▲ Next.js 16.4.0 (Turbopack)
- Local:        http://localhost:3000
✓ Ready in 3.4s

The website is now running on your computer.

Step 5: Open in your browser

Open your browser and go to:

http://localhost:3000

You should see the Velat homepage.

To stop the server: go back to the terminal and press Ctrl + C.

What's next

―Configuration — change site name, navbar, footer
―Content — write blog posts and product pages
―Deployment — publish your site online

Common problems

"node is not recognized"

Node.js is not installed, or you didn't restart your computer after installing it. Restart, then try again.

"Port 3000 is already in use"

Another app is using port 3000. Either close that app, or change the port in package.json:

"dev": "next dev -p 3001"

Then open http://localhost:3001 instead.

The page is blank

1. Go to the terminal

2. Press Ctrl + C to stop the server

3. Delete the .next folder:

Windows:

rmdir /s /q .next

macOS:

rm -rf .next

4. Run npm run dev again

Yellow warnings during `npm install`

These are normal for JavaScript projects. Only red Error messages require attention.