# Set Up & Run a Dev/Test Node

This page explains how to set up a minimal local BigchainDB node for development and testing purposes.

The BigchainDB core dev team develops BigchainDB on recent Ubuntu, Fedora and CentOS distributions, so we recommend you use one of those. BigchainDB Server doesn't work on Windows and Mac OS X (unless you use a VM or containers).

Read through the BigchainDB [CONTRIBUTING.md file](https://github.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md). It outlines the steps to setup a machine for developing and testing BigchainDB.

You can set up a stand-alone BigchainDB node using one of the following guides:

- [Using a Local Dev Machine](setup-bdb-host.html)
- [Using a Local Dev Machine and Docker](setup-bdb-docker.html)
- [Using Vagrant](../appendices/run-with-vagrant.html)
- [Using Ansible](../appendices/run-with-ansible.html)

You can [run all the unit tests](running-all-tests.html) to test your installation.