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Prerequisites

Every tutorial in the Use cases section assumes your machine has Docker, Git and a couple of free accounts set up. This page walks you through the common setup once — each individual tutorial then links back here instead of re-explaining it.

If you've already done all of this on your machine, skip to the tutorial you came for.

What you need​

  • A computer running macOS, Windows 10/11, or Linux
  • Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine on Linux) — runs every tutorial in a container so you never install language-specific toolchains on your host
  • Git — every tutorial uses GitHub Actions to deploy
  • A free GitHub account — sign up
  • A free Flexweg account — sign up

Step 1 — Install Docker Desktop​

Docker Desktop bundles Docker Engine + the docker compose CLI + a GUI. It's the easiest way to run containers on any OS.

  1. Download Docker Desktop for Mac from docker.com/products/docker-desktop.

    • Choose Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) or Intel depending on your Mac — click the Apple menu → About This Mac to check.

  2. Open the downloaded .dmg, drag Docker into Applications.

  3. Launch Docker from your Applications folder. Accept the service agreement.

  4. Wait for the whale icon in the menu bar to go steady (not animating) — that means Docker is running.

  5. Open a terminal and verify:

    docker --version
    docker compose version
How do I know Docker is running?

docker run --rm hello-world downloads a tiny image and runs it. If you see the "Hello from Docker!" message, you're good to go.

Step 2 — Install Git​

Git is the version control system every tutorial uses to push your project to GitHub.

Git ships with Xcode Command Line Tools. Open a terminal and run:

xcode-select --install

A dialog appears — click Install. Once done, verify:

git --version

Step 3 — Configure Git with your identity​

Git needs to know who you are (shown on every commit). Run this once:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

Step 4 — Create your GitHub account​

If you don't have one yet, sign up on GitHub — it's free for unlimited public and private repositories. Most tutorials in this section push your project to GitHub and use GitHub Actions to deploy to Flexweg.

Step 5 — Create your Flexweg account​

Head to flexweg.com and sign up for a free account. A blank site is created automatically at a URL like https://4dp6g1d6.flexweg.com — you'll deploy to this URL from any tutorial.

You'll also need an API key for deployment. Go to Account → API and generate one. Keep it handy — every tutorial will ask you to paste it into a GitHub secret.

Treat your API key like a password

Never commit it to git, paste it in a public issue, or share it. If you leak it, revoke it from the same page and generate a new one.

You're ready​

With Docker, Git, GitHub and Flexweg in place, you can now follow any tutorial in the Use cases section:

More tutorials coming soon.