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Manual Setup

Running from source is intended for development and customization. For production self-hosting, the single-container Docker setup is strongly recommended — it builds the frontend and backend together and runs migrations for you.

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js 22+
  • PNPM (npm install -g pnpm)
  • PostgreSQL 14+ (or use the bundled Docker database — see below)

1. Clone and Install​

git clone https://github.com/martinhrvn/hive-pal.git
cd hive-pal
pnpm install

This is a PNPM workspace managed by Turborepo. The app lives in apps/frontend and apps/backend; shared Zod schemas are in packages/shared-schemas.

2. Database​

The quickest way to get a database is the bundled Docker compose helper:

cd apps/backend
pnpm db:up          # starts PostgreSQL in Docker

Or point DATABASE_URL at any existing PostgreSQL 14+ instance.

3. Configure Environment​

Create apps/backend/.env (and apps/frontend/.env for the dev server). At minimum the backend needs:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/beekeeper?schema=public"
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=replace_me_with_a_random_string   # openssl rand -base64 32
BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:5173
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme123

See Configuration for the full list. For the frontend dev server set VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:3000 in apps/frontend/.env.

4. Generate Client and Run Migrations​

From apps/backend:

pnpm prisma:generate   # generate the Prisma client
prisma migrate dev     # apply migrations to the database
pnpm seed              # optional: seed test data

5. Start the App​

From the repository root:

pnpm dev

This starts both services:

  • Frontend — http://localhost:5173
  • Backend API — http://localhost:3000/api
  • API docs (Swagger) — http://localhost:3000/api-docs

Building for Production​

To produce production builds without Docker:

turbo build

In production the backend serves the frontend's static build from its own static/ directory (the same arrangement the Docker image uses). You'll need a process manager and reverse proxy to run it reliably — at which point the Docker image does all of this for you, so prefer it unless you have a specific reason not to.

Updating​

git pull origin main
pnpm install
cd apps/backend && pnpm prisma migrate deploy
turbo build