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Install Medusa with create-medusa-app

In this document, you’ll learn how to use create-medusa-app to set up a Medusa backend.

Overview​

Medusa is a toolkit for developers to create digital commerce applications. In its simplest form, Medusa is a Node.js backend with the core API, plugins, and modules installed through npm.

create-medusa-app is a command that facilitates creating a Medusa ecosystem. It installs the Medusa backend, along with the necessary configurations to run the backend.

Prerequisites​

Before you can install and use Medusa, you need the following tools installed on your machine:

How to Create a Medusa Project​

Make sure your PostgreSQL server is running before you run the command.

In your terminal, run the following command:

npx create-medusa-app@latest
Available Options
  • --repo-url <url>: The repository URL to create the project from. By default it will be https://github.com/medusajs/medusa-starter-default.
  • --no-boilerplate: A flag that removes all files added for an enhanced onboarding experience (files under src/api, etc...). This is helpful if you want to create a clean project, and is only recommended if you're familiar with Medusa.

Step 1: Specify Project Name​

You’ll first be asked to enter the name of your project, which is used to create the directory holding your Medusa backend. You can use the default my-medusa-store or enter another project name.

(Optional) Step 2: Specify PostgreSQL credentials​

By default, this command will try to use the default PostgreSQL credentials to connect to your PostgreSQL server. If they don't work, you'll be prompted to enter your PostgreSQL database and passowrd. If they work, you can move ahead to the next step.

These credentials will be used to create a database during this setup and configure your Medusa backend to connect to that database.

Step 3: Wait for Project Setup​

After the above steps, the project setup will start which includes:

  1. Creating the project directory. The directory name will be the project name you entered in step 1.
  2. Creating the project database.
  3. Installing dependencies in your project directory.
  4. Building project and running migrations to migrate the Medusa schema into your project database.
  5. Seed the database

Step 4: Test it Out​

Once the installation is finished, the Medusa backend will be started automatically. You can test it out by either opening the URL localhost:9000/store/products in your browser or using cURL:

cURL localhost:9000/store/products

This endpoint returns an array of available products in your Medusa backend.

Did you set up Medusa successfully?

Next Steps: Start your Development​

Based on what you're building, you can find a development path for you in the Recipes page.

Troubleshooting​

EAGAIN error

When using the create-medusa-app npx command, you might run into an NPM EAGAIN error. This error can randomly occur due to conflicting processes.

The easiest solution is to start the command over. Alternatively, if your setup crossed the "create database" point, you can manually perform the following steps in the directory of your created project. You can skip any steps that you're sure have been performed by create-medusa-app:

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Build project:

npm run build

3. Run migrations:

npx @medusajs/medusa-cli migrations run

4. Optionally seed the database:

npx @medusajs/medusa-cli seed -f ./data/seed.json

5. Start project:

npx @medusajs/medusa-cli develop
TypeError: cmd is not a function

This error typically occurs when you set up a Medusa project with create-medusa-app and try to run the Medusa backend.

To resolve this issue, make sure you change into the backend directory of the Medusa project you created before trying to start the Medusa backend:

cd backend
npx @medusajs/medusa-cli develop
Error: connect ECONNREFUSED ::1:5432

When you start your Medusa backend you may run into the following error:

Error: connect ECONNREFUSED ::1:5432

This error occurs because the backend couldn't connect to the PostgreSQL database. The issue could be one of the following:

  1. PostgreSQL server isn't running. Make sure it's always running while the Medusa backend is running.
  2. The connection URL to your PostgreSQL database is incorrect. This could be because of incorrect credentials, port number, or connection URL format. The format should be postgres://[user][:password]@[host][:port]/[dbname]. Make sure that the connection URL format is correct, and the credentials passed in the URL are correct. You can learn more about formatting the connection URL here
AwilixResolutionError: Could Not Resolve X

If you get the error on a fresh installation of the Medusa backend, or you haven't made any customizations that would cause this error, try to remove the node_modules directory, then run the following command in the root directory of the Medusa backend to re-install the dependencies:

npm install
Other Errors

If you ran into another error, please try to search through our GitHub issues to see if there's a solution for your issue. If not, please create an issue on GitHub and our team will help you resolve it soon.

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