System Requirements

Before installing Cluster, ensure your environment meets these requirements.

Hardware Requirements

Minimum (Development / Small Team)

Resource	Requirement
CPU	2 cores
RAM	4 GB
Storage	20 GB SSD
Network	100 Mbps

Recommended (Production)

Resource	Requirement
CPU	4+ cores
RAM	8+ GB
Storage	100+ GB SSD
Network	1 Gbps

Storage Note

Cluster stores only annotations and metadata, not media files. Storage requirements scale with annotation volume, not file size.

Software Requirements

Required

Software	Version	Notes
Node.js	20 LTS or higher	Runtime for API server
PostgreSQL	14 or higher	15+ recommended
pnpm	8 or higher	Package manager

Optional

Software	Version	Purpose
Docker	24+	Container deployment
Docker Compose	2.20+	Multi-container orchestration
Meilisearch	1.5+	Full-text search
Redis	7+	Session storage (multi-instance)

Cloud Requirements

Microsoft 365 / Azure AD

Cluster requires Azure AD for authentication. You need:

• Azure AD tenant (included with Microsoft 365)
• Admin access to register applications
• SharePoint site with research files

Required Azure AD permissions:

Permission	Type	Purpose
User.Read	Delegated	Read user profile
Files.Read.All	Delegated	Access SharePoint files
Sites.Read.All	Delegated	List SharePoint sites

Google Workspace (Coming Soon)

Future releases will support Google Drive:

• Google Workspace account
• OAuth 2.0 application credentials
• Drive API enabled

Network Requirements

Inbound Ports

Port	Protocol	Service
443	HTTPS	Web application and API

Outbound Connections

Cluster needs to reach:

Destination	Purpose
login.microsoftonline.com	Azure AD authentication
graph.microsoft.com	Microsoft Graph API
*.sharepoint.com	SharePoint file access

CORS Configuration

The API server must allow requests from your web frontend origin:

// Default development
cors({ origin: 'http://localhost:3000' })

// Production
cors({ origin: 'https://cluster.yourcompany.com' })

Database Requirements

PostgreSQL

Cluster requires PostgreSQL 14+ with:

• UUID extension (uuid-ossp or use gen_random_uuid())
• JSONB support (native in PG 9.4+)
• UTF-8 encoding

Recommended PostgreSQL settings:

# postgresql.conf
shared_buffers = 256MB          # 25% of RAM for small instances
effective_cache_size = 768MB    # 75% of RAM
work_mem = 16MB
maintenance_work_mem = 128MB

Connection Pooling

For production, use connection pooling:

• PgBouncer — Lightweight, battle-tested
• Managed pools — AWS RDS Proxy, Azure connection pooling

Browser Support

Cluster's web interface supports:

Browser	Minimum Version
Chrome	90+
Firefox	90+
Safari	14+
Edge	90+

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is not supported.

Verification Commands

Check Node.js

node --version
# Expected: v20.x.x or higher

Check pnpm

pnpm --version
# Expected: 8.x.x or higher

Check PostgreSQL

psql --version
# Expected: psql (PostgreSQL) 14.x or higher

Check Docker (optional)

docker --version
# Expected: Docker version 24.x.x or higher

docker compose version
# Expected: Docker Compose version v2.20.x or higher

Next Steps

Once requirements are met:

1. Installation Guide — Set up Cluster
2. Azure AD Setup — Configure authentication