Update README.md with a few gotchas

⛔ closed · #43 · willchen96/mike ← dave-parachute/mike · opened 18d ago by dave-parachute · closed 16d ago · +73-10 across 1 file · ↗ on GitHub

From the PR description

Hey @willchen96 really enjoyed playing with Mike OSS.

I tried installing it as if I were a lawyer rather than an engineer and ran into a handful of papercuts that I think are easy fixes:

README changes

  • Add a git clone step (the existing setup jumps straight to npm install, which assumes the reader has already cloned)
  • Promote prerequisites (Node, git, Supabase, R2, model provider) into their own section with links so lawyers know what tools they're signing up for
  • Walk through the steps in order: clone → install → env files → run schema → start backend → start frontend → sign up → add per-user API key
  • Document the per-user API key gotcha - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in .env is a server-side fallback only; the model picker is gated on a per-user key (or at least seemed to be)
  • Note that Supabase moved its API page recently - Project URL is now under Settings → Data API, and the env vars expect the "Legacy" anon / service_role keys (not the new sb_publishable_* / sb_secret_* format) - possibly want to update this to new format
  • Add an env-var reference table with where to get each value
  • Mark LibreOffice as optional (only needed for .doc / .docx upload) - figure people could still play around with out it
  • Add a Troubleshooting section covering the three issues I hit as a first-time user: npm install peer-dep warnings vs hard ERESOLVE failures, Supabase confirmation emails (rate-limited / team-restricted by default on newer Supabase projects) and the per-user model API key gating

Our analysis

Smooth the README onboarding for non-engineer installers — read the full analysis →

Think the analysis missed something the PR description covers?

Capture this PR into my fork

Download a Markdown prompt that tells Claude how to port every commit in this PR into your working tree. Run it via claude -p < capture-pull-43.md from inside the repo you want the changes in.

⬇ Download capture-pull-43.md