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+# Using Locally-installed x-dash
+
+When developing an x-dash component, although we recommend using the Component Explorer to preview your component, it's sometimes useful to see it in the context of a real app.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+This guide assumes that:
+
+  - your app is set up according to the [app setup guide](/tools/x-docs/src/docs/guides/apps/setup.md)
+  - you have x-dash set up for development according to the [component setup guide](/tools/x-docs/src/docs/guides/components/setup.md)
+  - the folders for your app and x-dash are in the same parent directory
+
+## Using relative `npm install`
+
+As an example, we'll install [`x-teaser`](/components/x-teaser/readme.md) into an app. With your app and x-dash set up as above, in the folder for your app, run `npm install --save ../x-dash/components/x-teaser`.
+
+If you had `x-teaser` previously installed from `npm`, you should see that in your `package.json`, the version specifier has changed to `file:../x-dash/components/x-teaser`. The package will have been installed into `node_modules` as a symbolic link to the folder within `x-dash`.
+
+While the `file:` version specifier, subsequent runs of `npm install` will work as long as the folders are kept in the correct locations. Otherwise, npm will return this error:
+
+```
+npm ERR! code ENOLOCAL
+npm ERR! Could not install from "../x-dash/components/x-teaser" as it does not contain a package.json file.
+```
+
+If you encounter this error, ensure that x-dash is set up correctly in the parent folder of your app, or reinstall `x-teaser` from the npm registry using `npm install --save @financial-times/x-teaser`.
+
+### Avoid `npm link`
+
+Usually, using a locally-installed version of a package is a use case for `npm link`. In practice, we have found it to be brittle, causing problems with peer dependencies and nested transitive dependencies. Using relative `npm install` treats the installed package as any other, ensuring your `node_modules` has the expected structure.