System Requirements

Node.js Environment

Required Version

Node.js v20+ is required, with v22 recommended for production deployments.

Sunschool uses modern JavaScript features and is tested against Node 22. The production deployment on Railway uses Node 22 via NIXPACKS. From package.json:

{
  "name": "workspace",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "engines": {
    "node": ">=20.0.0"
  }
}

Verify Your Installation

node --version
# Should output v20.x.x or higher (v22.x.x recommended)

npm --version
# Should output 8.x.x or higher

Installing Node.js

Ubuntu/Debian
macOS
Windows

# Using NodeSource repository
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Using Homebrew
brew install node@22

# Or using nvm
nvm install 22
nvm use 22

Download the installer from nodejs.org or use:

# Using Chocolatey
choco install nodejs-lts

PostgreSQL Database

Required Version

PostgreSQL 12+ is required. Sunschool is tested with PostgreSQL 14 and 15.

The application uses:

JSONB columns for complex data (lesson specs, learner profiles)
Array types for concept tags
Drizzle ORM for migrations and queries
WebSocket connections (Neon serverless compatible)

Database Features Used

From the schema (shared/schema.ts):

// Enums
export const userRoleEnum = pgEnum("user_role", ["ADMIN", "PARENT", "LEARNER"]);
export const lessonStatusEnum = pgEnum("lesson_status", ["QUEUED", "ACTIVE", "DONE"]);

// JSONB columns for complex data
spec: json("spec").$type<EnhancedLessonSpec>(),
graph: json("graph").$type<{ nodes: any[], edges: any[] }>(),

// Array types for tagging
conceptTags: text("concept_tags").array(),

Installation Options

Neon Serverless (Recommended)
Local PostgreSQL
Docker PostgreSQL

Neon provides serverless PostgreSQL with:

Automatic scaling and connection pooling
WebSocket connections (used by Sunschool)
Free tier available
No server management required

Setup:

Create account at neon.tech
Create new project
Copy connection string to DATABASE_URL

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@ep-cool-name-123456.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require"

Install PostgreSQL locally:Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo systemctl start postgresql

macOS:

brew install postgresql@15
brew services start postgresql@15

Create database:

sudo -u postgres createdb sunschool
sudo -u postgres psql
postgres=# CREATE USER sunschool_user WITH PASSWORD 'secure_password';
postgres=# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE sunschool TO sunschool_user;

Connection string:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://sunschool_user:secure_password@localhost:5432/sunschool"

Run PostgreSQL in Docker:

docker run -d \
  --name sunschool-db \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secure_password \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=sunschool \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  postgres:15-alpine

Connection string:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:secure_password@localhost:5432/sunschool"

Package Manager

npm

Sunschool uses npm as the package manager. Minimum version 8.x required.

The project includes package.json with all dependencies. Key packages:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^5.1.0",
    "drizzle-orm": "^0.43.1",
    "react": "^19.1.0",
    "@tanstack/react-query": "^5.74.11",
    "jsonwebtoken": "^9.0.2",
    "axios": "^1.9.0"
  }
}

Installation:

npm install
# Installs ~70 packages

System Resources

Minimum Specifications

These are absolute minimums. Production deployments should exceed these.

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	1 vCPU	2+ vCPUs
RAM	512 MB	2 GB
Storage	1 GB	10 GB+
Network	10 Mbps	100+ Mbps

Memory Considerations

Node.js process: 200-400 MB baseline
PostgreSQL: 128-256 MB minimum
AI processing: Temporary spikes during lesson generation
Concurrent users: +50MB per active session

Storage Breakdown

/sunschool/
├── node_modules/     ~300 MB  (dependencies)
├── client/dist/      ~15 MB   (built frontend)
├── server/dist/      ~5 MB    (compiled backend)
└── database/         variable (lesson data, images)

Lesson images (SVG) average 10-50 KB each. A typical database with 1000 lessons uses ~500 MB.

Network Requirements

Ports

Default port is 5000 (configurable via PORT environment variable).

# Development
http://localhost:5000

# Production (behind reverse proxy)
https://yourdomain.com → proxy → localhost:5000

Firewall Rules

Incoming:

Port 5000 (HTTP) - from reverse proxy or public
Port 5432 (PostgreSQL) - only if database is remote

Outgoing:

Port 443 (HTTPS) - for AI provider APIs:
- api.openrouter.ai
- api.perplexity.ai
- archive.opentensor.ai (Bittensor, optional)

Operating System

Supported Platforms

Linux (Recommended)
macOS
Windows

Ubuntu 20.04+ LTS
Debian 11+
CentOS 8+
Amazon Linux 2

Tested on: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Windows 10+
Windows Server 2019+

Note: Use WSL2 for best compatibility:

wsl --install
wsl --set-default-version 2

Additional Tools (Optional)

Development Tools

# TypeScript (included in devDependencies)
npx tsc --version

# Build tools
npm run build      # Vite + TypeScript compilation
npm run migrate    # Database migrations
npm test           # Jest unit tests

Production Tools

PM2 Process Manager

For process management and auto-restart:

npm install -g pm2
pm2 start npm --name "sunschool" -- start
pm2 startup
pm2 save

Nginx Reverse Proxy

For SSL termination and load balancing:

server {
  listen 443 ssl http2;
  server_name sunschool.example.com;
  
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
  }
}

Verification Checklist

Before proceeding to installation:

Node.js v20+

node --version
# ✅ v22.15.3 (or v20.x.x+)

npm v8+

npm --version
# ✅ 9.5.0 (or higher)

PostgreSQL accessible

psql -h localhost -U postgres -c "SELECT version();"
# ✅ PostgreSQL 15.x

Sufficient resources

free -h  # RAM
df -h    # Disk space
# ✅ 2GB RAM, 10GB disk available

Ready to proceed? Continue to Environment Configuration

​Node.js Environment

​Required Version

​Verify Your Installation

​Installing Node.js

​PostgreSQL Database

​Required Version

​Database Features Used

​Installation Options

​Package Manager

​npm

​System Resources

​Minimum Specifications

​Memory Considerations

​Storage Breakdown

​Network Requirements

​Ports

​Firewall Rules

​Operating System

​Supported Platforms

​Additional Tools (Optional)

​Development Tools

​Production Tools

​Verification Checklist

Node.js Environment

Required Version

Verify Your Installation

Installing Node.js

PostgreSQL Database

Required Version

Database Features Used

Installation Options

Package Manager

npm

System Resources

Minimum Specifications

Memory Considerations

Storage Breakdown

Network Requirements

Ports

Firewall Rules

Operating System

Supported Platforms

Additional Tools (Optional)

Development Tools

Production Tools

Verification Checklist