A Practical Checklist for Setting Up a Web Project

Created on : Fri Nov 13 2026

project setupweb developmentengineering

Project Setup

A framework starter gives you a place to begin, not a complete project setup. Add the defaults that help your team build, test, and deploy safely—but avoid installing every tool before the project needs it.

Use this checklist as a menu. The right setup depends on the application, team, and deployment environment.

1. Make the repository easy to work in

Choose a structure. Use a single application repository by default. A monorepo can help when multiple apps and shared packages need coordinated changes; define clear package boundaries and shared scripts.
Write the README first. Explain what the project does, prerequisites, setup commands, tests, build and deployment steps, architecture, and contribution conventions. Add badges only when they report useful, maintained checks.
Pin the runtime and package behavior. Use .nvmrc (or the team's runtime manager) to document the Node.js version. Use .npmrc for project-specific npm settings, but never commit registry credentials or tokens.
Share editor and formatting settings. Add .vscode/settings.json only for team-wide settings. Use .prettierrc and .prettierignore for consistent formatting, and configure linters for the languages and frameworks in use. Prettier supports project-level configuration; see its configuration guide.
Automate lightweight checks. Husky or another Git hook tool can run formatting, linting, or focused tests before a commit. Hooks improve feedback but are not a replacement for required CI checks.
Document the Git commit format. If the team wants a commit convention, validate it consistently. For example, this pattern accepts 0000 | Pair1/Pair2 | Add health endpoint:
```
{
  "pattern": "^\\d{4}\\s\\|\\s[A-Za-z0-9_-]+(?:/[A-Za-z0-9_-]+)?\\s\\|\\s.+$",
  "errorMessage": "Use: 0000 | Pair1/Pair2 | Your commit message"
}
```
Configure the keys in the commit-message validator your repository uses; the JSON shape is illustrative, not a universal tool configuration.
Keep project hygiene current. Maintain .gitignore, a license where appropriate, and clear instructions for local Git identity and repository access. Do not commit generated files or secrets.

2. Establish the application foundations

Types and state: use TypeScript when its added checks help the project. Keep UI state close to where it is used, and introduce shared state management only when the data flow warrants it. React's guidance covers structuring and sharing state.
Themes and styles: define shared colors, spacing, and typography with CSS custom properties. Choose CSS modules, styled-components, or another styling approach that fits the stack; document the choice and avoid mixing patterns without a reason. Add motion sparingly and respect reduced-motion preferences.
Accessibility and responsive behavior: build semantic, keyboard-operable interfaces with clear focus states, useful labels, and layouts that adapt to small screens and zoom. Treat accessibility as part of implementation and testing, not a final polish pass. The W3C introduction to accessibility explains who benefits and why.
UI development: add Storybook when reusable components or complex interface states benefit from being built and reviewed in isolation. Keep stories representative of loading, empty, error, and interaction states.
Web basics: include an appropriate favicon and a robots.txt file when crawler behavior needs configuration. robots.txt is a crawler instruction—not an access-control mechanism.
Health checks: when the runtime or platform needs them, provide health endpoints and distinguish “can this instance receive traffic?” from “should this process be restarted?” Kubernetes documents separate startup, liveness, and readiness probes.

3. Plan features and integrations deliberately

Configuration and secrets: list required environment variables, document safe local setup, and validate configuration at startup. Keep secrets in a secrets manager or deployment environment, not source control. Use Helm charts only when Kubernetes is part of the deployment; keep environment-specific values separate from chart templates.
Authentication and authorization: define who can sign in and what each role may do. Authentication identifies a user; authorization checks permission for each protected operation.
Encoding and cryptography: encoding changes representation; it does not protect confidentiality. Use established, reviewed libraries for encryption, decryption, and key management rather than designing your own scheme.
Localization: centralize user-facing text and format dates, numbers, and currencies for the user's locale. Retrofitting this later is often more work than planning for it early.
Analytics and experiments: add Google Tag Manager (GTM) or other analytics only with a clear event plan and appropriate privacy/consent behavior. Use feature toggles for controlled releases, and remove temporary flags after rollout. A/B tests need a defined hypothesis, measurement, and stop condition.
Logging: record useful operational events and errors without logging credentials, tokens, or unnecessary personal data.
APIs and dependencies: document HTTP APIs with an OpenAPI definition and use tools such as Postman for example requests and collaboration. Keep dependencies intentional and review package ownership, maintenance, and license requirements.

4. Test behavior, not just code paths

Unit and component tests: cover important logic and user-visible behavior. For React components, React Testing Library encourages tests that interact with the DOM as users do.
Coverage: track coverage to find untested areas, but do not treat a percentage as proof of quality. Prioritize critical behavior, edge cases, and failure handling.
End-to-end tests: use Cypress or Playwright for important user journeys in a browser. Keep the suite focused enough to run reliably in CI.
Mocks: use deterministic fixtures or a mock service for unavailable vendor systems and API failure scenarios. Mountebank is one option when the project needs a dedicated service-virtualization tool.
Accessibility and performance checks: include accessible interaction checks during development and use Lighthouse to audit representative pages. Lighthouse reports can guide improvements, but results should be interpreted alongside real user and production measurements.

5. Prepare for delivery and security

CI and deployment: run lint, tests, builds, and security checks on every proposed change. Jenkins is one pipeline option; use the CI platform already supported by the team. Make release steps and rollback expectations explicit.
Containers: if the project runs in Docker, use a small trusted base image and separate build-time dependencies from the final runtime image where practical. Docker's build best practices discuss multi-stage builds and image choices.
Access boundaries: allow-list URLs or network destinations only where an integration or deployment boundary requires it. Validate destinations server-side; an allow-list should not be treated as a substitute for authorization.
Security checks: combine code review with SAST for source-code patterns, DAST against a running application, and dependency scanning. Snyk offers SAST scanning; OWASP ZAP is one DAST option. GitHub Dependabot can alert on vulnerable dependencies, and npm audit checks a project's dependency tree against known advisories and can emit JSON. If the team needs HTML reports, generate them with a maintained report renderer; HTML is not the npm audit command's built-in output format. Review findings and upgrade impact rather than blindly applying automated fixes.
AI-assisted development: if the team uses coding agents, keep repository rules and reusable skills concise, version-controlled, and explicit about testing, secrets, and security review. Review generated changes like any other contribution.

A small launch checklist

Before sharing the project, confirm that a new contributor can install and run it from the README; formatting, lint, and tests are repeatable; configuration and secrets are handled safely; the key user journeys work at mobile and desktop sizes; and CI produces a deployable artifact with a health check appropriate to the runtime.

Do not block a small project on infrastructure it does not need. Start with a clear structure, reliable tests, accessible UI, and a repeatable release. Add monorepo tooling, Kubernetes, experimentation, or additional scanning when the requirements justify the operational cost.

You may also want to review moving code to production and web accessibility.