WGU D280 Development Environment Setup Guide for the JavaScript Final Project
| 2026 Update with complete solutions.
1) What you’re setting up (overview)
For the D280 JavaScript final project, you typically need:
A code editor (VS Code)
Node.js + npm (to run a dev server and install dependencies)
Git (version control + submitting/working cleanly)
A project folder + dependencies installed
A way to run + test your app locally
A clean submission build (when your project is finished)
2) Install the required software
A) Install VS Code
Download and install Visual Studio Code
Recommended VS Code extensions (helpful, not mandatory):
ESLint
Prettier
Live Server (only if your project is plain HTML/JS without a framework)
GitLens (nice Git helper)
B) Install Node.js (very important)
Install Node.js LTS (not “Current”)
Node includes npm automatically
After installing, confirm in your terminal:
node -v npm -v
If these commands work and show version numbers, you’re good.
C) Install Git
, Confirm Git works:
git --version
3) Create your workspace (folder structure)
Make a clean folder for WGU projects, for example:
Documents/WGU/D280/FinalProject/
Inside it you’ll have either:
A provided starter project (from the course)
or
Your own project scaffolding (depends on your final project requirements)
4) Open the project correctly in VS Code
1. Open VS Code
2. File → Open Folder
3. Select your FinalProject folder (open the root folder, not a subfolder)
Why this matters: many issues happen because people open only the /src folder or a
nested folder, then installs/run commands fail.
5) Install dependencies (npm install)
Open VS Code terminal (Terminal → New Terminal) and run:
, npm install
This should create a node_modules folder and a lock file (package-lock.json).
If npm install fails:
Common fixes:
Close VS Code, reopen, try again
Ensure Node is installed correctly (check node -v)
Delete and retry:
delete node_modules
delete package-lock.json
run npm install again
6) Run the project locally (dev server)
Most JavaScript final projects fall into one of these:
Option A: Framework project (common)
Try:
npm run dev
or
npm start
Then open the URL the terminal gives you
(often http://localhost:3000 or http://localhost:5173).
Option B: Plain HTML/CSS/JS project (no framework)
You can:
Right-click index.html → “Open with Live Server” (if using that extension), or
| 2026 Update with complete solutions.
1) What you’re setting up (overview)
For the D280 JavaScript final project, you typically need:
A code editor (VS Code)
Node.js + npm (to run a dev server and install dependencies)
Git (version control + submitting/working cleanly)
A project folder + dependencies installed
A way to run + test your app locally
A clean submission build (when your project is finished)
2) Install the required software
A) Install VS Code
Download and install Visual Studio Code
Recommended VS Code extensions (helpful, not mandatory):
ESLint
Prettier
Live Server (only if your project is plain HTML/JS without a framework)
GitLens (nice Git helper)
B) Install Node.js (very important)
Install Node.js LTS (not “Current”)
Node includes npm automatically
After installing, confirm in your terminal:
node -v npm -v
If these commands work and show version numbers, you’re good.
C) Install Git
, Confirm Git works:
git --version
3) Create your workspace (folder structure)
Make a clean folder for WGU projects, for example:
Documents/WGU/D280/FinalProject/
Inside it you’ll have either:
A provided starter project (from the course)
or
Your own project scaffolding (depends on your final project requirements)
4) Open the project correctly in VS Code
1. Open VS Code
2. File → Open Folder
3. Select your FinalProject folder (open the root folder, not a subfolder)
Why this matters: many issues happen because people open only the /src folder or a
nested folder, then installs/run commands fail.
5) Install dependencies (npm install)
Open VS Code terminal (Terminal → New Terminal) and run:
, npm install
This should create a node_modules folder and a lock file (package-lock.json).
If npm install fails:
Common fixes:
Close VS Code, reopen, try again
Ensure Node is installed correctly (check node -v)
Delete and retry:
delete node_modules
delete package-lock.json
run npm install again
6) Run the project locally (dev server)
Most JavaScript final projects fall into one of these:
Option A: Framework project (common)
Try:
npm run dev
or
npm start
Then open the URL the terminal gives you
(often http://localhost:3000 or http://localhost:5173).
Option B: Plain HTML/CSS/JS project (no framework)
You can:
Right-click index.html → “Open with Live Server” (if using that extension), or
