From 6a0037ecec5a7e541d85edf80894a96d25163117 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: nathan <nathan@lotusguild.org>
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2026 18:04:25 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] read me updates with instructions for running a dev server

---
 README.md | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 36d983756..5356b998b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,7 +13,38 @@ The source code is licensed under [AGPLv3](LICENSE), the same license as the ups
 The Lotus Chat logo (`public/res/Lotus.png`) is a derivative work based on the original Cinny logo by Ajay Bura and contributors, used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The modified logo is © Lotus Guild and is also made available under CC BY 4.0.
 
 ---
-
+## Development Environment Setup
+#### Getting correct Node version
+- Ensure you have the correct version of node installed, specified in `.node-version`
+- Use this command from the terminal to install nvm 
+```bash
+curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash
+``` 
+- Reload your terminal shell using (for Ubuntu):
+```bash
+source ~/.bashrc
+```
+- Install the specified Node version 
+```bash
+NODE_VERSION="$(tr -d '[:space:]' < .node-version)"
+nvm install "$NODE_VERSION"
+nvm use "$NODE_VERSION"
+```
+- verify the correct version was installed by running
+```bash
+node --version
+```
+and comparing the output to what is listed in `.node-version`
+#### Install npm packages
+- To install the npm packages listed in `package.json` run: 
+```bash
+ npm i 
+ ```
+### Start Development Server
+```bash
+npm run start
+```
+You should now have an active development server at `localhost:8080`, where you can make changes to the code and see the UI update in real time
 ## Features
 
 ### Messaging