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Running Locally

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js 20+, pnpm 9 (packageManager field pins it — corepack enable picks it up automatically)
  • Docker (for Postgres + Redis, and for a full container run)

The backend, in a few commands​

git clone https://github.com/aiyu-ayaan/BetweenUs.git betweenus
cd betweenus
cp .env.example .env

pnpm install
pnpm dev:infra              # Postgres + Redis via Docker Compose
pnpm db:generate
pnpm db:migrate
pnpm dev:backend             # every service, watch mode

pnpm dev:infra reads .env from infrastructure/docker/, not the repo root — the script passes --env-file .env for you; running docker compose by hand without that flag starts every service with empty ${VAR}s.

pnpm dev:backend runs the services only. pnpm dev additionally starts the desktop renderer on port 5173, which collides with pnpm dev:duo (see Testing) — use dev:backend when you plan to run dev:duo alongside it.

Desktop client​

pnpm --filter @betweenus/desktop dev

Web client​

pnpm dev:web

Serves at http://localhost:5175. The dev server proxies the same routes the desktop client talks to, minus /api/v1/remote and /ws/remote — the browser build has no remote-desktop section.

Admin panel​

pnpm dev:admin

The first administrator is created from the CLI, not a web form — a page open to the internet that could mint the first admin is a race anyone could win:

pnpm admin:create

Two signed-in windows (chat, voice, presence)​

pnpm dev:duo

See Testing for what it sets up and what to try.

Full container stack​

cp .env.example .env
pnpm prod:build
pnpm prod:up          # pull published images, or:
pnpm prod:up:build    # build images locally

See Docker Compose for the service list and networks.

Database​

pnpm db:generate    # Prisma client
pnpm db:migrate      # apply migrations (dev)
pnpm db:seed          # seed data
pnpm db:studio          # Prisma Studio, browse the data

Android​

cd apps/android
./gradlew assembleDebug

Needs JDK 21. local.properties sets betweenus.serverUrl, which is only a default — the login screen's server picker overrides it at runtime.

Docs site​

From the repo root (docs/ is a standalone npm project, not a pnpm workspace member, so these wrap npm --prefix docs):

pnpm docs:install
pnpm docs           # http://localhost:3000, live reload
pnpm docs:build      # static site into docs/build/

Or directly:

cd docs
npm install
npm start
npm run build
npm run serve      # serve the production build locally

See Docs Deployment for how a !docs commit publishes this to GitHub Pages.