Enterprise-Grade Next.js Boilerplate

Step 1.1: Go to GitHub.com in your web browser

Step 1.2: Find this repository (you'll need the URL from the person who shared this with you)

Step 1.3: Look for a big green button that says "Code" (usually in the top-right area)

Step 1.4: Click the "Code" button, then click "Download ZIP"

Step 1.5: Wait for the download to complete (it might take a minute)

Step 2.1: Go to your "Downloads" folder on your computer

Step 2.2: Find the ZIP file you just downloaded (it will have a name like "nextjs-boilerplate-main.zip")

Step 2.3: Right-click on the ZIP file and select "Extract All..." or "Extract Here"

Step 2.4: Choose a location on your computer (like Desktop or Documents)

Step 2.5: Click "Extract" and wait for it to finish

Step 3.1: Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard

Step 3.2: Type "cmd" and press Enter (this opens Command Prompt)

Step 3.3: Navigate to your extracted folder using the "cd" command

Example: If you extracted to Desktop, type: cd Desktop\nextjs-boilerplate-main

Step 3.4: Press Enter - you should see the folder path in your terminal

Step 4.1: Make sure you're in the project folder in your terminal

Step 4.2: Type this command exactly: npm install

Step 4.3: Press Enter and wait (this might take 2-5 minutes)

Step 4.4: You'll see lots of text scrolling - this is normal!

Step 4.5: Wait until you see your command prompt again (no more scrolling)

Step 5.1: In your project folder, create a new file called exactly: .env.local

Step 5.2: Open this file in any text editor (Notepad, VS Code, etc.)

Step 5.3: Copy and paste this content into the file:

# MongoDB
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/myapp

# NextAuth
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=your-nextauth-secret-key-here-change-this-in-production
NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000

# OAuth Providers (Optional - for SSO)
# Microsoft Azure AD
AZURE_AD_CLIENT_ID=your-azure-client-id
AZURE_AD_CLIENT_SECRET=your-azure-client-secret
AZURE_AD_TENANT_ID=your-azure-tenant-id

# Google OAuth
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-google-client-id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-google-client-secret

Step 5.4: Replace the placeholder values with your actual MongoDB connection string

Step 6.1: In your terminal, type: npm run dev

Step 6.2: Press Enter and wait a moment

Step 6.3: You should see a message like "Ready - started server on 0.0.0.0:3000"

Step 6.4: Open your web browser and go to: http://localhost:3000

Step 6.5: You should see your app running! 🎉