# Installation & Usage

The MagicMirror² can be installed manually or using automatic installers. At the start of 2020 the decision was made to remove the automatic installer from the MagicMirror² core repository and move it to a community maintained separate repository. For more information about this decision, please check issue #1860 (opens new window) on GitHub.

Therefore the only officially supported way of installation is by using a manual installation. Using external installation scripts is at your own risk but can make the process a lot easier. Available automatic installers can be found under: alternative installation methods.

# Manual Installation

Download and install a required (opens new window) Node.js version, see the official documentation:

check if git is installed on your machine by executing git (should show usage), otherwise install it
Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/MagicMirrorOrg/MagicMirror
Enter the repository: cd MagicMirror/
Install the application: npm run install-mm
Make a copy of the config sample file: cp config/config.js.sample config/config.js
Start the application: npm run start
For Server Only use: npm run server

NOTE

The installation step for npm run install-mm will take a very long time, often with little or no terminal response! For the RPi3 this is ~10 minutes and for the Rpi2 ~25 minutes. Do not interrupt or you risk getting a 💔 by Raspberry Jam.

# Alternative Installation Methods

The following installation methods are not maintained by the MagicMirror² core team. Use these scripts and methods at your own risk.

# Automatic Installation Scripts

Sam (@sdetweil, long time contributor of the MagicMirror² framework) maintains an easy-to-use installation and update script: https://github.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror_scripts (opens new window)
The MagicMirror Package Manager (opens new window) is a command line interface designed to simplify the installation, removal, and maintenance of MagicMirror modules.

# Docker Image

MagicMirror² can be deployed using Docker (opens new window). Head over to this repository (opens new window) for more information.

# Kubernetes Helm Chart

If you want to run MagicMirror² (in server only mode) in a kubernetes cluster then take a look at this MagicMirror Helm Chart (opens new window).

# MagicMirrorOS

This is a full OS based on Raspberry Pi OS. So instead of downloading Raspberry Pi OS and putting this on your sd card, you can use MagicMirrorOS (opens new window) instead. It runs out of the box with a default setup of MagicMirror, under the hood it uses the docker setup (opens new window).

# NPM

We also publish the latest version of MagicMirror to the npm-registry (opens new window).

# Other Operating Systems

# Windows:

To get the MagicMirror software running on Windows, you have to do two things in addition to the steps above:

4a. Install dependencies in the vendor and font directories:

Powershell:

cd fonts; npm install; cd ..
cd vendor; npm install; cd ..

Command Prompt:

cd fonts && npm install && cd ..
cd vendor && npm install && cd ..

Otherwise the screen will stay black when starting the MagicMirror.

5a. Fix the start script in the package.json file:

Navigate to the file package.json

Find where it says

"start": "DISPLAY=\"${DISPLAY:=:0}\" ./node_modules/.bin/electron js/electron.js",
"start:dev": "DISPLAY=\"${DISPLAY:=:0}\" ./node_modules/.bin/electron js/electron.js dev",

and replace it with

"start": ".\\node_modules\\.bin\\electron js\\electron.js",
"start:dev": ".\\node_modules\\.bin\\electron js\\electron.js dev",

Otherwise the program won't start, but will display this error message: "'DISPLAY' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

# Usage

Note the following:

npm start does not work via SSH. But you can use DISPLAY=:0 nohup npm start & instead.
This starts the mirror on the remote display.
If you want to debug on your Raspberry Pi you can use npm run start:dev which will start MM with Dev Tools enabled.
To access the toolbar menu when in mirror mode, hit ALT key.
To toggle the (web) Developer Tools from mirror mode, use CTRL-SHIFT-I or ALT and select View.

# Server Only

In some cases, you want to start the application without an actual app window. In this case, you can start MagicMirror² in server only mode by manually running npm run server. This will start the server, after which you can open the application in your browser of choice. Detailed description below.

IMPORTANT

Make sure that you whitelist the interface/ip (ipWhitelist) in the server config where you want the client to connect to, otherwise it will not be allowed to connect to the server. You also need to set the local host address field to 0.0.0.0 in order for the RPi to listen on all interfaces and not only localhost (default).

let config = {
	address: "0.0.0.0",	// default is "localhost"
	port: 8080,		// default
	ipWhitelist: ["127.0.0.1", "::ffff:127.0.0.1", "::1", "::ffff:172.17.0.1"], // default -- need to add your IP here
	...
};

# Client Only

This is when you already have a server running remotely and want your RPi to connect as a standalone client to this instance, to show the MM from the server. Then from your RPi, you run it with: node clientonly --address 192.168.1.5 --port 8080. (Specify the ip address and port number of the server)

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