Phase 1

🔧 Account & Tooling Setup

~15 min Step 2 of 9

Confirm Node.js is installed

Open your terminal and type:

bash

node --version

You should see something like v20.11.0 or higher. If you get an error, go to nodejs.org and install the LTS version first.

✓ Checkpoint

If you see a version number starting with v18 or higher, you're on track.

Install Wrangler

Wrangler is Cloudflare's command-line tool. Think of it as mission control — it's how you talk to Cloudflare from your terminal.

bash

npm i -g wrangler

The -g flag means "install this globally" — it makes wrangler available everywhere on your computer, not just in one project folder.

Create a Cloudflare account

Go to cloudflare.com and sign up for a free account. You'll need an email address.

👋 Parent note

You may want to create the account under your own email. The free tier is genuinely free — no credit card required for what we're doing today.

What is Cloudflare? Cloudflare runs a massive network of servers all around the world. When you deploy your website to Cloudflare, they copy it to servers on every continent. When someone in Tokyo visits your site, they get it from a server in Tokyo. When someone in London visits, they get it from London. Your site loads fast for everyone, everywhere. That's what "deploying" means — putting your code on servers that other people can reach.

Log in from your terminal

bash

wrangler login

This opens your browser. Log in to the Cloudflare account you just created and approve the connection.

Verify it worked

bash

wrangler whoami

You should see your account name and ID printed in the terminal.

✓ Checkpoint

If wrangler whoami shows your account name, you're connected and ready.