Docs/Getting Started/Installation & Setup

Installation & Setup

Requirements, first-run configuration and the handful of values worth changing straight away.

Updated: September 2026·License: Commercial & Personal

Requirements

Node.js 20 or newer — check with node -v

npm, pnpm or yarn — the examples use npm

Any editor; the official Astro VS Code extension adds syntax highlighting for .astro files

First run

bash

npm install
npm run dev

Change these first

Before you get far into customising, set the values that appear across the whole site:

1. Site URL — in astro.config.mjs, set site to your real domain. Canonical URLs, the sitemap and the RSS feed are all derived from it.

2. Site metadata — title, description and social image defaults live in the shared layout under src/layouts/. 3. Favicon — replace the files in public/.

// astro.config.mjs
import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';

export default defineConfig({
  site: 'https://your-domain.com',
});

Leaving site at its placeholder value is the single most common setup mistake. It produces a sitemap and feed full of the wrong domain.

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