running-locally.md

Running locally

You'll need Git and Node.js installed to get this project running.

Note: You will need the Node.js version specified in the .nvmrc file. This should reflect the most current active LTS (Long-term support).

1. Fork repository (optional)

If you're an external contributor make sure to fork this project first

2. Clone repository

git clone git@github.com:alphagov/govuk-frontend.git # or clone your own fork

cd govuk-frontend

3. Using nvm (optional)

If you work across multiple Node.js projects there's a good chance they require different Node.js and npm versions.

To enable this we use nvm (Node Version Manager) to switch between versions easily.

1. install nvm
2. Run nvm install in the project directory (this will use .nvmrc)

4. Install npm dependencies

We use npm to manage the dependencies in development.

npm install

Fixing Node 16+ errors

If you've previously installed govuk-frontend locally using Node v14 or earlier, you may see node-sass-related errors when updating to Node v16.

To get rid of these errors, delete the node_modules folder, then run:

nvm use
npm uninstall node-sass -g && npm cache clean -force && npm install node-sass
npm install

5. Start a local server

This will build sources, serve pages and watch for changes.

npm start

Deploying

You can deploy your project straight to a Heroku instance.

An existing Heroku instance can be found at: http://govuk-frontend-review.herokuapp.com/