Installing & First App

Install Ember CLI globally, scaffold a fresh project, and launch the dev server at localhost:4200.

4 min read Level 1/5 #ember#install#cli

What you'll learn

Install ember-cli globally with npm
Scaffold a new project with ember new
Run the dev server with ember serve

Every Ember project starts with the same tool: ember-cli. Install it once and you can scaffold, serve, build, and test from a single command.

Install Ember CLI

npm install -g ember-cli
ember --version

You should see ember-cli: 5.x.x. The CLI requires Node 18+.

Scaffold a New App

ember new my-app --typescript
cd my-app
ember serve

Drop --typescript for a JS project. Open http://localhost:4200 and you’ll see the welcome screen. Live reload works out of the box — edit a template and the browser updates.

Tour the Generated Project

my-app/
├── app/                # your code
│   ├── components/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── services/
│   ├── templates/
│   ├── router.js
│   └── app.js
├── config/             # per-environment settings
├── tests/              # unit, integration, acceptance
├── public/             # static assets
├── ember-cli-build.js  # build pipeline
└── package.json

The structure is identical for every Ember app — no choice paralysis, no “where should this live” debates.

The Ember CLI →