diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index dd5acd1..bf3e5b5 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -43,12 +43,23 @@ for prior user-research context on content organisation.
 
 ## Building locally
 
+This repository requires the Node.js version specified in the
+[`.nvmrc` file](.nvmrc). Install the dependencies and generate the static site:
+
 ```bash
 npm install
 npm run build
-# Output is written to out/
 ```
 
+The output is written to `out/`. Start a local server from a separate terminal:
+
+```bash
+npx serve out
+```
+
+Open <http://localhost:3000/learn> to preview the site. Run `npm run build`
+again after making changes to update the generated output.
+
 ## Code of Conduct
 
 This project follows the
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ec19120..e1792f6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -30,13 +30,6 @@ The structure is based on
 [Card Sort research](https://github.com/nodejs/nodejs.org/issues/8234)
 conducted at the 2025 Cambridge Node.js Collaborators' Summit.
 
-## Development
-
-```bash
-npm install
-npm run build   # generates static site + Orama search DB in out/
-```
-
 ## Contributing
 
 See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
diff --git a/doc-kit.config.mjs b/doc-kit.config.mjs
index 676adc5..06fd267 100644
--- a/doc-kit.config.mjs
+++ b/doc-kit.config.mjs
@@ -2,14 +2,18 @@ import web from '@node-core/doc-kit/src/generators/web/index.mjs';
 import { join } from 'node:path';
 
 const origin =
-  process.env.VERCEL_ENV === 'preview' ? process.env.VERCEL_URL : 'nodejs.org';
+  process.env.VERCEL_ENV === 'preview'
+    ? `https://${process.env.VERCEL_URL}`
+    : process.env.VERCEL_ENV === 'production'
+      ? 'https://nodejs.org'
+      : 'http://localhost:3000';
 
 /** @type {import('@node-core/doc-kit/src/utils/configuration/types.d.ts').Configuration} */
 export default {
   global: {
     output: 'out/learn',
     input: ['pages/**/*.md'],
-    baseURL: `https://${origin}/learn`,
+    baseURL: `${origin}/learn`,
   },
   'jsx-ast': {
     generateIndexPage: false,