Getting Started with Node-RED on Windows: Installation, Launch, and First Flow

Node-RED is an IBM‑developed visual programming environment that lets users quickly connect hardware and devices to web services and other software; it has grown into a general‑purpose IoT tool that uses a flow‑based model where predefined code blocks called “nodes” are linked together.

Because Node-RED is built on Node.js, the first step is to install Node.js on Windows (see screenshot). After Node.js is installed, Node-RED can be installed globally with the command: npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red Once the installation succeeds, start the runtime with: node-red If no errors appear, the editor is listening on port 1880; opening a browser at http://localhost:1880 loads the visual editor (screenshot).

To create a basic flow, drag an inject node onto the left pane, double‑click it, set the payload type to “string”, enter some text, check “Immediately inject” and click Done. Then drag a debug node, connect the inject node to the debug node, and click Deploy. The debug sidebar shows the injected message, confirming the flow works (screenshots).

The article also provides a link to the original blog post for further reference.