# Install

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This is the official documentation of the `@forestadmin/agent` Node.js agent.
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### Standalone vs In-app installation

The Forest Admin agent can run as a Standalone server (You can see it in action in the [quick start](/developer-guide-agents-nodejs/getting-started/quick-start.md)), but can also be "attached" to an existing Node.js application server (That we usually call "In-app").

We recommend installing the Forest Admin agent "In-app" whenever it's possible, as our [Development workflow](/developer-guide-agents-nodejs/deploying-to-production/development-workflow.md) can be tied to your application deployment process.

However, if you don't already have an existing Node.js application, or if you prefer to run Forest Admin in an isolated context, you can still use our [Standalone](/developer-guide-agents-nodejs/getting-started/quick-start.md) installation.

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The installation process will ask for your application endpoint. This endpoint must be correctly filled to onboard and to make the authentication process work as expected. If you choose to make the agent run as a stand-alone process, fill it with the endpoint you would like your agent to run on (`http://localhost:3000` by default) and make sure that the port provided to `mountAsStandaloneServer` matches (3000 in this example).
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### Requirements

To install Forest Admin in a JavaScript or TypeScript environment, you'll need to install the `@forestadmin/agent` package. It exposes all the code required to create a Forest Admin agent.

You will also need to install at least one of [our data sources](/developer-guide-agents-nodejs/data-sources/getting-started.md) package.

If you don't use it already, you can also install [dotenv](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv), which eases the management of environment variables. Even though it is not mandatory for Forest Admin to run, the example provided in the following documentation will use this package.

The following sections will provide examples to ease your installation process. All of them will show how to run the agent using an SQL data source on our supported application servers.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.forestadmin.com/developer-guide-agents-nodejs/getting-started/install.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.