Edit this Page Suggest Edits Installing Telescope Installing Meteor & Telescope.

So you've decided to give [Telescope](http://www.telescopeapp.org) a try, but you're not sure where to begin. Have no fear, this step-by-step guide will show you how to get started and get Telescope running on your local machine. [block:api-header] { "type": "basic", "title": "Installing Meteor" } [/block] The first step will be installing [Meteor](https://www.meteor.com/), the framework on which Telescope is based. [block:callout] { "type": "info", "title": "Using the Terminal", "body": "Some of the following steps will require you to use your system's **terminal**. Note that some of the commands (such as `meteor`) will launch a new process, which means you won't be able to enter any other commands in that terminal tab until you quit the process (which you can do with `ctrl+c`.



So if you need to enter another command while the Meteor process is still running, just open up a new tab and you'll be good to go!" } [/block] To install Meteor, please refer to the [official install instructions](https://www.meteor.com/install). Once you've installed Meteor, you have a couple options. Here they are, from the simplest to the most complex. [block:api-header] { "type": "basic", "title": "Option 1: Easy Setup (Coming Soon)" } [/block] Note: doesn't actually exist yet! But it'll be really cool when it does :) ``` telescope create myProjectName ``` [block:api-header] { "type": "basic", "title": "Option 2: Manual Setup" } [/block] You can also set up your Telescope project manually. [block:callout] { "type": "info", "title": "Git Clone Setup", "body": "If you prefer using Git, you can also clone the [sample-project](https://github.com/TelescopeJS/sample-project) repository, which will take care of the following steps for you." } [/block] Start by creating a new Meteor project with: ``` meteor create myProjectName ``` (Where you'll replace `myProjectName` with the name of your project.) Once Meteor has created your project, drill down into the `myProjectName` directory with ``` cd myProjectName ``` First, delete the following files: - `myProjectName.css` - `myProjectName.html` - `myProjectName.js` Then open `myProjectName/.meteor/packages` in your text editor of choice (note: the `.meteor` directory is hidden, and might not appear in your operating system's file browser), and replace the contents of this file with the following package manifest: [block:code] { "codes": [ { "code": "# Meteor packages used by this project, one per line.

#

# 'meteor add' and 'meteor remove' will edit this file for you,

# but you can also edit it by hand.



############ Telescope Core ############



telescope:core



############ Telescope Packages (Optional) ############



telescope:migrations

telescope:api

telescope:daily

telescope:datetimepicker

telescope:debug

telescope:email

telescope:embedly

telescope:getting-started

telescope:invites

telescope:kadira

telescope:newsletter

telescope:notifications

telescope:pages

telescope:post-by-feed

telescope:releases

telescope:rss

telescope:scoring

telescope:search

telescope:share

telescope:spiderable

telescope:subscribe-to-posts

telescope:tagline-banner

telescope:tags

telescope:theme-base

telescope:theme-hubble

telescope:update-prompt



############ Your Custom Packages ############



# custom", "language": "text" } ] } [/block] Save the file, and start your Meteor app with: ``` meteor ``` Since `.meteor` is hidden, you might end up with a completely empty project directory. That's normal! Don't worry, your app is still here :) [block:callout] { "type": "danger", "title": "It's Not Working!", "body": "If you get an error when running your app, it might be because Meteor somehow didn't get the latest versions of Telescope's packages.



If that's the case, you can tell Meteor to update them with:



```

meteor update

```" } [/block] [block:api-header] { "type": "basic", "title": "Option 3: Developer Setup" } [/block] The preceding two options do not give you easy access to Telescope's source code. If you're a more advanced developer and would like to have access to the code (for example, to contribute to the project), you can fork or clone the [main Telescope repository](https://github.com/TelescopeJS/Telescope). The repository contains all of Telescope's package dependencies in its own local `package` directory. So instead of downloading the `telescope:foo` packages from the central Meteor package server, Meteor will use these local copies instead. Note that unless you intend to submit a Pull Request back to the main repository, it is not recommended to modify these packages, as that can make keeping your codebase up to date harder. [block:callout] { "type": "info", "title": "From Developer To Manual", "body": "If at any point you want to go back to being able to update with `meteor update`, just delete all Telescope packages from the `/packages` directory, and Meteor will go back to looking for them on its package server." } [/block] [block:api-header] { "type": "basic", "title": "What's Next?" } [/block] Once you have Telescope up and running, it's time for some [Basic Configuration](doc:basic-configuration). You should also join the [Telescope mailing list](http://telescopeapp.org/newsletter) so you can hear about the latest updates and announcements.