Update README.md with a few gotchas
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 clonestep (the existing setup jumps straight tonpm 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_KEYin.envis 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_rolekeys (not the newsb_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/.docxupload) - 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 installpeer-dep warnings vs hardERESOLVEfailures, 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
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inside the repo you want the changes in.