---
title: Setting up the development environment
order: 20
---

FreeSewing provides a development environment that visualizes your design for you.

To set it up, I will open a terminal and enter the following command:

```sh
npx @freesewing/new-design
```

It will ask if it is ok to install the development environment in a new folder
named `freesewing`. You can accept the default, or pick a different folder name
if you prefer.

It will also ask what package manager you would like to use. 
Here too the default (`npm`) is fine., unless you are certain you have **yarn** installed.

After answering these questions, files will be downloaded, dependencies installed,
and it will also initialize a git repository for you (if you have git on your system).

<Note>

This will take a few minutes because the development environment has a number
of dependencies that need to be downloaded.

</Note>

When it's ready, you can enter the `freesewing` directory that was just created and run `npm run dev`:

```sh
cd freesewing
npm run dev
```

Or if you want to use yarn as package manager:

```sh
cd freesewing
yarn dev
```

Now open a browser and go to http://localhost:8000

If all goes well, we'll should see this landing page:

![The FreeSewing development environment](./nd.png)

<Tip>

##### Need help?

If you run into any issues, head over to [FreeSewing.org/support](https://next.freesewing.org/support)
which lists the various ways in which you can get help.

</Tip>