diff --git a/.node-version b/.node-version
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eccaa1afe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.node-version
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+v12.18.2
diff --git a/.nvmrc b/.nvmrc
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..070266a26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.nvmrc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.node-version
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f33e0b1cb..9a76966d7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -93,6 +93,20 @@ For the full list of commands, please see the [CLI command reference](https://do
 
 1. Install Node.js [`node@12.x` and `npm@6.x` are required]
 1. Clone this repository `$ git clone git@github.com:particle-iot/particle-cli.git && cd ./particle-cli`
+1. Install dependencies required by some of particle-cli's npm dependencies
+
+   >  particle-cli uses npm packages [`node-usb`](https://github.com/tessel/node-usb) and [`node-serialport`](https://github.com/serialport/node-serialport).
+   >  On some environments (ie: Raspberry Pi and Apple M1), `node-serialport` [does not provide prebuild environments](https://github.com/serialport/node-serialport/issues/2292),
+   >  so their npm install script relies on creating a prebuild using node-gyp (See
+   >  [node-gyp requirements](https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp#on-unix)), and libudev (See [node-usb installation](https://github.com/tessel/node-usb#installation).
+   >  And these must be installed in order for their npm install script to succeed.  As well, particle-cli uses dfu-util and openssl.
+   >
+   >  As an example, to install these dependencies on Raspbian/Debian/Ubuntu:
+   >  ```bash
+   >  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
+   >  sudo apt install build-essential libudev-dev python3 dfu-util openssl
+   >  ```
+
 1. Install dependencies `$ npm install`
 1. View available commands `$ npm run`
 1. Run the tests `$ npm test`
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index eb08d7245..48c1e4cc7 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
     "serialport": "^8.0.5"
   },
   "engines": {
-    "node": ">=8",
+    "node": "=12",
     "npm": ">=6"
   },
   "homepage": "https://github.com/particle-iot/particle-cli/",