Getting Started

How much you need to do to get started with CUE Front depends on what you're going to do with it, and whether or not you have access to any existing CUE Front components. The following sections contain two "quick start" guides for Docker-based installations: one for a full-stack test/development installation and a simpler guide for designers who will be accessing an existing Cook installation.

Quick start for test/development

This is the quickest way to install a complete CUE Front stack. All the components are installed in Docker containers and are pre-configured to work together correctly. It's the recommended starting point, since it gives you a complete, correctly configured system to explore and play around with. It also means you can install CUE Front on Mac and Windows machines, not only on Linux. Note, however, that some organizations have IT policies that disallow the use of virtualization technology on Windows machines, in which case you will not be able to install CUE Front in this way.

Quick start for designers

If you are a designer or front-end designer working in an organization with an existing CUE Front installation, then you probably don't need to run all the CUE Front components on your computer. You will probably only want to use the Waiter and Patternlab.io, and connect the Waiter to an existing Cook installation. This guide tells you how to install and configure your Docker containers for this kind of usage.

This section does not discuss installation or configuration of the Fridge, since the Fridge is an optional component that is not needed in the "getting started" phase. The Fridge is actually an nginx web server instance used to maintain a cache, and can be used for two different purposes:

  • Offline template development

  • Caching in production systems

For information about the Fridge's different uses and how to install and configure it, see Using the Fridge.