diff --git a/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/actor/README.md.hbs b/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/actor/README.md.hbs
index 746b53a3..761e5c96 100644
--- a/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/actor/README.md.hbs
+++ b/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/actor/README.md.hbs
@@ -21,27 +21,12 @@ This application has been generated by the JUDO toolbox.
 
 ## Setup
 
-### NodeJS
-We recommend using [NVM](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm) to handle your NodeJS
-installation.
-
-The recommended NodeJS version is `18.15.0` (LTS), or whatever version which has been set in the `.nvmrc` file.
-
-> If the `.nvmrc` file is empty, we can fix it by setting the `nodeVersion` property in our generator config.
-
-### PNPM
-
-For dependency management we are using [PNPM](https://pnpm.io/benchmarks).
-
-Installing PNPM if you don't have it already:
+We recommend using our setup script, which takes care of everything:
 
 ```
-npm i -g pnpm
+./setup-node-env.sh
 ```
 
-> If you are using NVM to manage your NodeJS installs, the global installation of PNPM will
-  place it under the folder where NVM installed your NodeJS!
-
 ## Local development
 
 In order for our frontend application to be able to find our running backend, we need to export the following variables:
diff --git a/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/actor/setup-node-env.sh.hbs b/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/actor/setup-node-env.sh.hbs
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..f9256c25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/actor/setup-node-env.sh.hbs
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Define the versions to use
+NVM_VERSION="0.40.1"            # Specify the desired NVM version
+DEFAULT_NODE_VERSION="{{ nodeVersion }}"  # Specify the default Node.js version to use if .nvmrc is not found
+PNPM_VERSION="{{ pnpmVersion }}"           # Specify the desired PNPM version
+
+# Colors for output
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+NC='\033[0m' # No Color
+
+# Determine the Node.js version to use
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+if [ -f "$SCRIPT_DIR/.nvmrc" ]; then
+    NODE_VERSION=$(cat "$SCRIPT_DIR/.nvmrc")
+    echo -e "${GREEN}.nvmrc file detected. Using Node.js version: $NODE_VERSION${NC}"
+else
+    NODE_VERSION=$DEFAULT_NODE_VERSION
+    echo -e "${YELLOW}.nvmrc file not found. Falling back to default Node.js version: $NODE_VERSION${NC}"
+fi
+
+# Step 1: Install NVM
+echo -e "${GREEN}Installing NVM (Node Version Manager) version $NVM_VERSION...${NC}"
+curl -o- "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v$NVM_VERSION/install.sh" | bash
+
+# Load NVM script into the current shell session
+export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
+# shellcheck source=/dev/null
+[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"
+
+# Verify NVM installation
+if command -v nvm > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo -e "${GREEN}NVM version $NVM_VERSION installed successfully!${NC}"
+else
+    echo -e "${RED}NVM installation failed! Exiting.${NC}"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Step 2: Install the specified version of Node.js using NVM
+echo -e "${GREEN}Installing Node.js version $NODE_VERSION...${NC}"
+nvm install "$NODE_VERSION"
+nvm use "$NODE_VERSION"
+nvm alias default "$NODE_VERSION"
+
+# Verify Node.js installation
+if command -v node > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo -e "${GREEN}Node.js $(node -v) installed successfully!${NC}"
+else
+    echo -e "${RED}Node.js installation failed! Exiting.${NC}"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Step 3: Install PNPM globally
+echo -e "${GREEN}Installing PNPM version $PNPM_VERSION...${NC}"
+npm install -g pnpm@"$PNPM_VERSION"
+
+# Verify PNPM installation
+if command -v pnpm > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo -e "${GREEN}PNPM $(pnpm -v) installed successfully!${NC}"
+else
+    echo -e "${RED}PNPM installation failed! Exiting.${NC}"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo -e "${GREEN}Node.js and PNPM setup complete!${NC}"
diff --git a/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/ui-react.yaml b/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/ui-react.yaml
index 69176b2c..349f771c 100644
--- a/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/ui-react.yaml
+++ b/judo-ui-react/src/main/resources/ui-react.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 templates:
+  - name: actor/setup-node-env.sh
+    pathExpression: "'setup-node-env.sh'"
+    templateName: actor/setup-node-env.sh.hbs
+
   - name: actor/biome.json
     pathExpression: "'biome.json'"
     templateName: actor/biome.json.hbs