Undocumented prerequisites turn a five-minute setup into an hour of debugging. When a project silently requires Node.js 18+ for native fetch, a running Postgres instance, or an active Stripe account, developers on Node 16 or without the external service hit cryptic runtime errors with no path to resolution. iso-25010:2011 analysability treats prerequisite documentation as a core input to understanding a system. The failure mode is invisible: the code looks correct, the install succeeds, and then execution fails for reasons that have nothing to do with the code itself.
High because missing prerequisites cause silent environment failures that block setup entirely, and the resulting errors are rarely self-diagnosing — developers waste significant time before discovering the real dependency.
Add a Prerequisites section immediately before Installation. Be version-specific and include external service accounts:
## Prerequisites
- Node.js >= 18
- PostgreSQL >= 14 (or a Supabase account — free tier works)
- An OpenAI API key ([get one here](https://platform.openai.com/api-keys))
- ffmpeg installed locally (`brew install ffmpeg` on macOS)
Version ranges must be explicit ('Node.js >= 18', not 'Node.js'). Every external service or API key the project requires at runtime must appear here.
ID: developer-documentation.getting-started.prerequisites
Severity: high
What to look for: Check whether the README or docs list required runtime versions (Node.js >= 18, Python >= 3.10, etc.), required system dependencies (e.g., ffmpeg, imagemagick, database servers), and required accounts or API keys for external services (e.g., "You need a Stripe account" or "Requires an OpenAI API key"). Count all instances found and enumerate each.
Pass criteria: Prerequisites are listed before installation instructions. Required runtime versions, system dependencies, and external service accounts are all documented. Version requirements are specific (not just "Node.js" but "Node.js >= 18"). At least 1 implementation must be confirmed.
Fail criteria: No prerequisites section exists, or major requirements are undocumented. The project requires Node.js 18+ but doesn't say so, or it requires a database server but the docs assume one is already running.
Skip (N/A) when: The project has zero dependencies and runs on any standard runtime version.
Detail on fail: Example: "Project requires Node.js 18+ (uses native fetch) but README does not mention any version requirement" or "Project imports from @supabase/supabase-js but docs never mention needing a Supabase account or database"
Remediation: Add a prerequisites section before installation:
## Prerequisites
- Node.js >= 18
- A Supabase account (free tier works)
- An OpenAI API key ([get one here](https://platform.openai.com/api-keys))