VisualEditor/Installation on a shared host

VisualEditor requires a Parsoid service and Parsoid requires Node.js running in the background at all times. Most shared-hosting companies don't provide this. If you cannot move your wiki to a dedicated hosting solution such as a VPS, then a workaround is to install Parsoid on a cloud platform which supports Node.js, such as Heroku.com. Be aware that this is not an official hack.


 * 1) Sign up with Heroku.com.
 * 2) Install Extension:VisualEditor on your wiki as per usual.
 * 3) Deploy Node.js on Heroku.
 * 4) To install the Parsoid library on Heroku, you'll need to create a custom buildpack. Heroku.com provides an open API but doesn't support the development of custom buildpacks. From the Parsoid setup instructions, on Ubuntu or Debian an apt-get can be used for the install. Using the open-source APT buildpack might let you install Parsoid on Heroku.
 * 5) Install the Parsoid package on Heroku using a custom Buildpack.
 * 6) Configure Parsoid to point to your wiki so it fetches wikitext from there.
 * 7) Point VisualEditor to your Heroku Parsoid install.