Add basic instructions for local vm

README.md

@@ -1 +1,17 @@
 # archtika
+
+## Virtual machine for local development
+
+The website directory used by the virtual machine needs to be created and the NodeJS process, which typically runs as the default system user, needs permission to write to this directory.
+
+This can be achieved using the following commands:
+
+```bash
+sudo mkdir -p /var/www/archtika-websites
+```
+
+```bash
+sudo chown $USER:$(id -gn) /var/www/archtika-websites
+```
+
+For production, a separate `node` user can be created to run the systemd service for the node process; this user would have only the essential permissions to maintain the principle of least privilege.