---
title: Installation & Setup
description: Installation methods, standalone bundle acquisition, npm packages, and building VertiWiki from source.
tags: [vertiwiki, installation, download, npm, setup, build]
---

# Installation & Setup

> For the complete documentation index and agent navigation, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt).

VertiWiki can be integrated into your workflow through several methods depending on whether you are using the pre-compiled distribution, consuming it as a dependency, or building from source.

---

## 🎯 Distribution Flavors

| Flavor | Best For | Requirement |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Standalone HTML Bundle** | Static hosting, S3/Cloudflare Pages, Zero-dev teams | Any HTTP web server |
| **NPM Package** | Integration into existing JavaScript/TypeScript monorepos | Node.js `>=22` |
| **Source Compilation** | Custom engine builds, contributing, custom plugin baking | Vite & Node.js `>=22` |

---

## 📥 Method 1: Standalone Single-File Bundle (Recommended)

The simplest and most resilient way to run VertiWiki is to download the compiled `vertiwiki.html` binary bundle directly. It contains all dependencies (`marked`, `dompurify`, `mermaid`, `minisearch`, `prismjs`, `katex`) pre-bundled into a single HTML file:

```bash
# Direct download via curl
curl -fsSL https://github.com/Octadira/vertiwiki/releases/latest/download/vertiwiki.html -o index.html

# Direct download via wget
wget https://github.com/Octadira/vertiwiki/releases/latest/download/vertiwiki.html -O index.html
```

Rename `index.html` to whatever your web server expects as default document index.

---

## 📦 Method 2: NPM Package Manager

If you manage your documentation repository via a Node package manager:

```bash
# npm
npm install vertiwiki

# pnpm
pnpm add vertiwiki

# yarn
yarn add vertiwiki

# bun
bun add vertiwiki
```

The package provides the compiled distribution at `node_modules/vertiwiki/dist/vertiwiki.html` as well as typed interface declarations in `src/core/types.ts`.

---

## 🔨 Method 3: Building From Source

To build a custom distribution or contribute to VertiWiki:

### 1. Clone the Source Repository
```bash
git clone https://github.com/Octadira/vertiwiki.git
cd vertiwiki
```

### 2. Install Build Dependencies
```bash
npm install
```

### 3. Launch the Vite Development Server
```bash
npm run dev
```

### 4. Compile the Single-File Bundle
```bash
npm run build
```

This runs `vite build` utilizing `vite-plugin-singlefile`, emitting:
- `dist/index.html`
- `dist/vertiwiki.html` (identical standalone single-file distribution)

### 5. Run Automated Tests
```bash
npm test
```
Executes the comprehensive Vitest test suite covering routing, parsing, sanitization, plugins, and i18n locales.

---

## 🚀 Serving the Documentation

Because modern browsers enforce CORS security policies on `fetch()` calls against local files (`file:///`), always serve your wiki using an HTTP server:

```bash
# Python 3
python3 -m http.server 3000

# Node.js
npx serve .

# Caddy
caddy file-server --listen :3000
```

---

## 🔗 Next Steps

- Configure navigation and layout options in [Configuration Overview](configuration/overview.md).
- Learn how to deploy to Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, or AWS in the [Operational Runbook](operations/runbook.md).