Requirements

This page lists everything you should have ready before running pnpm install. You can do the account sign-ups later, but having them ready now saves back-and-forth.

Tools on your computer

Don't have Node.js?

Download from nodejs.org — pick the LTS version. It bundles npm, which you'll use once to install pnpm.

Don't have pnpm?

After Node.js is installed, open your terminal and run:

npm install -g pnpm

Check it works:

pnpm --version
# should print 10.4.x or higher

Accounts you'll need to create

All of these have free tiers large enough for launching a directory.

Supabase — required

Your database, user login system, and file storage — all in one.

• Sign up: supabase.com
• You'll use it for: storing projects, user accounts, Google OAuth login, file uploads
• Step-by-step setup: Supabase Setup

Stripe — required for paid plans

Handles payments when users buy Premium listings.

• Sign up: stripe.com
• You'll use it for: charging $15 for Premium, promotion placements, sponsor subscriptions
• Skip this if you want a free-only directory — set provider: 'none' in config/payments.config.ts

Resend — required for emails

Sends welcome emails, submission confirmations, notifications.

• Sign up: resend.com
• You'll use it for: any transactional email the site sends
• Free tier: 3,000 emails/month, 100/day — more than enough to start

Optional accounts

Only sign up for these if you want the matching feature. You can add them any time later.

What you don't need

• ❌ AWS / S3 — Supabase comes with S3-compatible file storage built in
• ❌ A separate hosting provider — Vercel deploys from Git (free tier works)
• ❌ A domain name — you can launch on a free *.vercel.app subdomain first
• ❌ Docker — everything runs natively with Node.js

What's next

You're ready. Move on to Installation.