Setting Up Your Development Environment

This guide will help you set up your local development environment for the Physical AI & Humanoid Robotics project.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• npm or yarn package manager
• Git version control system

Initial Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd frontend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create your local environment file:

   cp .env.example .env

Environment Configuration

This project follows security best practices for handling environment variables:

1. Backend Variables (kept separately in your backend directory):

   • API keys for external services (OpenAI, Cohere, Google Gemini, etc.)
   • Database connection strings
   • Authentication secrets

2. Frontend Variables (in the .env file):

   • API base URLs
   • Analytics IDs (if applicable)

⚠️ Important: Never commit actual API keys to version control. Always use .env files that are ignored by git.

Running the Development Server

npm start

This will start the Docusaurus development server, typically available at http://localhost:3000

Security Guidelines

• Store all sensitive API keys in the backend
• Never expose backend API keys to frontend code
• Use API proxy pattern for external service calls
• Follow the environment variable security guide in the documentation

Building for Production

npm run build

This command will build the static site for production deployment.