# Development environment MIDI Mixer supports loading JavaScript [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) plugins as a separate process that can communicate with [MIDI Mixer's plugin API](https://github.com/midi-mixer/midi-mixer-plugin). To get started, you'll need to set up a development environment. It's recommended that you build your plugin using [TypeScript](https://www.typescriptlang.org/) (JavaScript with types), giving you much better developer tooling and quality-of-life helpers such as autocomplete and static error checking. {% hint style="info" %} If you've already got a development environment set up with Node.js installed, skip to the next step. {% endhint %} ### Installing Node If you don't have Node.js installed on your system, I'd recommend installing [Volta](https://volta.sh/), a toolchain manager for JavaScript that allows you to easily download and use any version of Node, NPM, or Yarn across multiple platforms. * Follow the [Volta Getting Started Guide](https://docs.volta.sh/guide/getting-started) ### Installing an editor [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) is a very popular code editor that has fantastic support for TypeScript. If you don't get yet a code editor, I'd recommend downloading and using VSCode for getting started. I'll be using VSCode in any demonstrations throughout this guide. * Install [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) ### That's it! If you've done the above or already have your development environment set up, let's get started! --- # 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.midi-mixer.com/plugins/create-a-plugin/development-environment.md?ask= ``` 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.