Review all the necessary steps required to get started with Ionic 3.
OS X Setup
Prerequisites
- You should have some familiarity with the Mac Terminal application since you’ll need to use it to install and test Node and NPM. You’ll also need the Terminal to use Node.js and NPM. The Terminal application is located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.
- Dependencies. Although you can install Node in other ways, we recommend using Homebrew. Homebrew lets you avoid possible security problems associated with using the
sudocommand to install software like Node and Node modules.- Open the Terminal app.
- Type
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"You’ll see messages in the Terminal explaining what you need to do to complete the installation process. You can learn more about Homebrew at the Homebrew website.
Installation Overview
Installing Node.js® and NPM is pretty straightforward using Homebrew. Homebrew handles downloading, unpacking and installing Node and NPM on your system. The whole process (after you have Homebrew installed) should only take you a few minutes.
Installation Steps
- Open the Terminal app and type
brew update. This updates Homebrew with a list of the latest version of Node. - **Type
brew install node. - Sit back and wait. Homebrew has to download some files and install them. But that’s it.
Test it!
Make sure you have Node and NPM installed by running simple commands to see what version of each is installed:
- Test Node. To see if Node is installed, type
node -vin Terminal. This should print the version number so you’ll see something like thisv0.10.31. - Test NPM. To see if NPM is installed, type
npm -vin Terminal. This should print the version number so you’ll see something like this1.4.27

How to Update Node and NPM
New versions of Node and NPM come out frequently. You can use Homebrew to update the software it installs.
- Make sure Homebrew has the latest version of the Node package. In Terminal type
brew update - Upgrade Node:
brew upgrade node
How to Uninstall Node and NPM
You can use Homebrew to uninstall packages that it installed:
brew uninstall node
Windows Setup
-
Installing Node and NPM is pretty straightforward using the installer package available from the Node.js® web site.
- You will need to use PowerShell please install instructions
-
Installation Overview
Installing Node and NPM is pretty straightforward using the installer package available from the Node.js® web site.
Installation Steps
- Download the Windows installer from the Nodes.js® web site.
- Run the installer (the .msi file you downloaded in the previous step.)
- Follow the prompts in the installer (Accept the license agreement, click the NEXT button a bunch of times and accept the default installation settings).

- Restart your computer. You won’t be able to run Node.js® until you restart your computer.
Test it!
Make sure you have Node and NPM installed by running simple commands to see what version of each is installed and to run a simple test program:
- Test Node. To see if Node is installed, open the Windows Command Prompt, Powershell or a similar command line tool, and type
node -v. This should print a version number, so you’ll see something like thisv0.10.35. - Test NPM. To see if NPM is installed, type
npm -vin Terminal. This should print NPM’s version number so you’ll see something like this1.4.28 - Create a test file and run it. A simple way to test that node.js works is to create a JavaScript file: name it
hello.js, and just add the codeconsole.log('Node is installed!');. To run the code simply open your command line program, navigate to the folder where you save the file and typenode hello.js. This will start Node and run the code in thehello.jsfile. You should see the outputNode is installed!.

How to Update Node and NPMNew versions of Node and NPM come out frequently. To install the updates, just download the installer from the Nodejs.org site and run it again. The new version of Node and NPM will replace the older versions.
How to Uninstall Node and NPM
You uninstall Node.js and NPM the same as you would most Windows software:
- Open the Windows Control Panel
- Choose the “Programs and Features” option
- Click the “Uninstall a program” option
- Select Node.js, and click the Uninstall link.
Ionic Framework Setup
Once Node is installed you can install ionic using Node Package Manager.
npm install -g ionic
Visual Studio
You are welcome to use any IDE you choose, but we suggest Visual Studio Code. VSC Download