# I would like to learn NODE RED... where do I begin?

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/i-would-like-to-learn-node-red-where-do-i-begin/100173>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [16 January 2026 16:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/i-would-like-to-learn-node-red-where-do-i-begin/100173 "2026-01-16T16:25:34Z")\
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**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [16 January 2026 18:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/i-would-like-to-learn-node-red-where-do-i-begin/100173/2 "2026-01-16T18:00:36Z")

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Welcome to the forum @Elindo586.

Node-red is free and open source.  
Flowfuse are the principal maintainers and have a commercial product which extends Node-red but you certainly don't need to use the Flowfuse product.

A more feasible way to start...  
IMHO the simplest is to use a Debian based Linux machine and the "official" installer script.  
If you want a dedicated computer, the cheapest to comfortably run Node-red is the Raspberry Pi 2 Zero.  
You don't need the full desktop OS, the lite version is fine, and you can access it over ssh from any computer so no need for a monitor and keyboard.

Installation instructions are at [Running on Raspberry Pi : Node-RED](https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/raspberrypi).

There are lots of posts here related to communicating with industrial machines over modbus or similar.  
You might want to install the Mosquitto MQTT broker on your Node-red machine too.

There are a few videos on Youtube for beginners. Search for "Introduction to Node-red"

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