Before you begin, you'll need to install stuff: Ruby, Git, and Rails: http://railsinstaller.org/en PostgreSQL 9.2: http://www.enterprisedb.com/products-services-training/pgdownload nodejs: http://nodejs.org/download During the installation of the PostgreSQL database, you'll need to choose a database password. Anything is fine, just note down what you choose. Once you are ready, create a new folder to hold this and any other git repositories. As an example, let's pretend you've chose C:\git, and made that folder writable by your user account. Now you are ready to clone the Metamaps git repository: git clone https://github.com/metamaps/metamaps.git --branch develop cd metamaps bundle install The third `bundle install` command downloads and installs the rubygem dependencies of Metamaps. You also need to install the ES6 code from the nodejs repositories: npm install npm run build At this point you should be in C:\git\metamaps, or whatever equivalent directory you've chosen. The next step is to set up your database configuration. From the metamaps directory, run start config This command will open a Windows Explorer window of the "config" directory of Metamaps. Copy `.example-env`, and rename the copy to `.env`. Edit the file and set the DB_PASSWORD to be whatever you set up with postgres earlier. Once you're done, then move back into the command prompt. The next few commands will fail unless `.env` is correctly configured and Postgres is running. rake db:create rake db:schema:load rake db:fixtures:load And you're set up! At this point, you should be able to run the server at any time with only one command; you don't need to repeat any of the previous steps again. The command to run the server is: rails s Navigate your browser to localhost:3000 once you have the server running Sign in with the default account email: user@user.com password: toolsplusconsciousness OR create a new account at /join, and use access code 'qwertyui' Start mapping and programming!