Improve project documentation and setup instructions

[saurabhsingh72487-hub]

Link to the documentation page or resource

https://docs.strapi.io

Describe the bug

Description

The project documentation can be improved to help new contributors and developers set up the project more easily.

Suggested Improvements

• Add clearer installation steps
• Mention required Node.js and package manager versions
• Add environment variable setup instructions
• Include troubleshooting section for common errors
• Improve project structure explanation

Expected Benefit

Better onboarding experience for new contributors and easier local development setup.

I would like to work on this issue if it gets approved.

Additional context

No response

Suggested improvements or fixes

No response

Related issue(s)/PR(s)

No response

[github-actions]

🤖 I've analyzed your question and here's what I found:

Thank you for taking the time to put together such a thoughtful and detailed issue! 🎉 Contributions like this are exactly what make the Strapi community great, and we really appreciate your willingness to help improve the onboarding experience for new contributors.

Here's a summary of the current official resources that already cover many of the areas you've highlighted, which should help you get started on your contribution:

---

Current Documentation & Resources

✅ Installation Steps

The CLI installation guide provides step-by-step instructions for creating a new Strapi project:

npx create-strapi@latest

or with pnpm:

pnpm create strapi

[CLI Installation]

---

✅ Node.js & Package Manager Requirements

The following Node.js versions are currently supported (Active LTS or Maintenance LTS only — odd-number releases like v23, v25 are not supported): [Deployment Requirements]

• v20, v22, v24

Supported package managers:

• npm (v6 and above)
• pnpm (fixed to v9 on Strapi Cloud)

---

✅ Database Requirements

Database	Recommended	Minimum
MySQL	8.4	8.0
MariaDB	11.4	10.3
PostgreSQL	17.0	14.0
SQLite	3	3

[Deployment Requirements]

---

✅ Environment Variable Setup

For Docker-based setups, the required environment variables are documented here: [Docker Setup]

Key variables include DATABASE_CLIENT, DATABASE_HOST, JWT_SECRET, ADMIN_JWT_SECRET, APP_KEYS, API_TOKEN_SALT, and more.

---

✅ Contributor Workflow

For contributors specifically, the CONTRIBUTING.md file covers:

1. Forking and cloning the repository
2. Running yarn install and yarn setup
3. Starting the example application
4. Running tests (yarn test:unit, yarn test:front, yarn test:e2e)
5. Linting with yarn lint

[Contributing Guide]

---

Next Steps for Your Contribution

Since some of this documentation already exists but may need to be consolidated, clarified, or made more discoverable, here's how to proceed:

1. For documentation improvements → Contributions should be directed to the strapi/documentation repository. Please review the documentation contributing guide before submitting a PR. [Community & Contribution]

2. For contributor-facing docs (setup, workflow, project structure) → These live in the CONTRIBUTING.md and the contributor documentation, so PRs to strapi/strapi would be appropriate.

3. For feature suggestions → Share your ideas at feedback.strapi.io.

---

If you have questions along the way, the Strapi Discord community and GitHub Discussions are great places to get help. We look forward to your contribution! 🚀

📚 Relevant documentation:

• Community & Support
• Contribute to Strapi
• Contribute to Strapi - Contribution Prerequisites
• Contribute to Strapi - Development Workflow
• Contribute to Strapi - Miscellaneous
• Deployment - Hardware and software requirements
• Documentation release notes - 5.8.0
• Getting Started
• Getting Started
• Installing from CLI
• Installing from CLI - Creating a Strapi project
• Quick Start Guide
• Running Strapi in a Docker container - Set up environment variables
• Strapi contributor documentation
• Strapi contributor documentation

---

ℹ️ This response was generated automatically. If this doesn't fully answer your question or if you need further assistance, please mention @pwizla in a comment and a human maintainer will help you.

You can also try our interactive AI chat for more detailed assistance.

💡 For feature requests or product feedback, visit feedback.strapi.io.

[pwizla]

Thanks for the suggestions. As answered by the Docs AI bot above, everything you mentioned is already largely covered. For troubleshooting, you should use the Support portal. If you have additional, precise, actionable contributions in mind for the Strapi documentation, feel free to submit contributions as suggested. I'll now close this issue. Have a nice day