---
title: Setting up the FreeSewing development environment
order: 40
---
FreeSewing provides a development environment to help you design and develop
patterns.
There are two ways to run this development environment:
- [**Monorepo development**](#monorepo-development): Use this if you intend to
contribute your work to FreeSewing
- [**Stand-alone development**](#stand-alone-development): Use this if you want
to do your own thing, and not contribute to FreeSewing
## Monorepo development
:::note
This is the recommended way for (aspiring) FreeSewing contributors
:::
### TL;DR
```bash
git clone https://github.com/freesewing/freesewing
cd freesewing
yarn kickstart
```
:::tip
Even better: [clone your own
fork](https://github.com/freesewing/freesewing/fork)
```bash
git clone https://github.com/your-username/freesewing
cd freesewing
yarn kickstart
```
:::
This sets up the monorepo. If you would like to create a new design, run the
following command:
```sh
yarn new design
```
If you'd like to create a new plugin, run this variant instead:
```sh
yarn new plugin
```
### Step by step
:::note
These docs assume you have git installed.
But if you're running Linux, you have git, right?
:::
#### Install yarn
Our repository uses yarn workspaces. So you'll need `yarn` to work with it.
To install it run:
```bash
npm install yarn --global
```
#### Fork our repository
You'll want to fork our repository. This way you have your own copy where you can make
all the changes you want. To do so, visit https://github.com/freesewing/freesewing/fork
#### Clone the forked repository
Now that you have your very own fork, it's time to clone it locally.
```bash
git clone <url to your fork>
```
Make sure to use the URL to your own fork, typically `https://github.com/your-username/freesewing` but
obviously with your real username rather than `your-username`.
#### Install dependencies
Enter the directory that was created, and run the `yarn kickstart` command:
```bash
cd freesewing
yarn kickstart
```
Now you're ready to [start the development environment](/tutorials/getting-started-linux/dev-start).
:::note
There is another `yarn` command that comes with some Linux distributions,
installed as part of the `cmdtest` package and used for command line
scenario testing.
If you get an `ERROR: There are no scenarios; must have at least one.`
message when trying to run the `yarn` command, it may be because the wrong
`yarn` is being used.
Possible workarounds for this include uninstalling the `cmdtest` package
or making sure that npm `yarn` is installed and comes first in your `PATH`
environment variable.
:::
## Creating a new design
If you would like to create a new design, run the following command:
```sh
yarn new design
```
## Creating a new plugin
If you'd like to create a new plugin, run the following command:
```sh
yarn new plugin
```
## Stand-alone development
With Node.js installed, all you need to do to setup the stand-alone development environment is run this command:
```bash
npx @freesewing/new-design
```
After you've answered [some questions](#questions), it will take a while to set
everything up. When it's done, you will have a new folder with the development
environment inside.
Now you're ready to [start the development
environment](/tutorials/getting-started-linux/dev-start).
:::tipThe folder will have the name you chose above.:::
:::note
### Questions
#### What template to use
Use `From scratch` unless you want to start from our of our blocks:
- Use `Extend Brian` to start from [Brian](https://freesewing.org/designs/brian)
- Use `Extend Bent` to start from [Bent](https://freesewing.org/designs/bent)
- Use `Extend Bella` to start from [Bella](https://freesewing.org/designs/bella)
- Use `Extend Breanna` to start from [Breanna](https://freesewing.org/designs/breanna)
- Use `Extend Titan` to start from [Titan](https://freesewing.org/designs/titan)
#### What name to use
This will become the name of your design. Stick to \[a-z] here to avoid problems.
If you're not certain what to pick, just mash some keys, it doesn't matter.
#### What package manager to use
You may wish to choose `yarn` since that is the package manager
that we use when doing work in the monorepo,
and many of our tutorials are written to use `yarn`.
However, it doesn't really matter.
You can choose either `yarn` or `npm` as you wish.
:::
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