Project Setup

The first step in configuring any Vagrant project is to create a Vagrantfile. The purpose of the Vagrantfile is twofold:

1. Mark the root directory of your project. Many of the configuration options in Vagrant are relative to this root directory.

2. Describe the kind of machine and resources you need to run your project, as well as what software to install and how you want to access it.

Vagrant has a built-in command for initializing a directory for usage with Vagrant: vagrant init. For the purpose of this getting started guide, please follow along in your terminal:

$ mkdir vagrant_getting_started
$ cd vagrant_getting_started
$ vagrant init

This will place a Vagrantfile in your current directory. You can take a look at the Vagrantfile if you want, it is filled with comments and examples. Do not be afraid if it looks intimidating, we will modify it soon enough.

You can also run vagrant init in a pre-existing directory to set up Vagrant for an existing project.

The Vagrantfile is meant to be committed to version control with your project, if you use version control. This way, every person working with that project can benefit from Vagrant without any upfront work.

Next Steps

You have successfully created your first project environment. Read on to learn more about Vagrant boxes.