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This guide will walk you through the process of setting up ProStack on your local development environment.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following tools installed:
  • Node.js (version 18 or higher)
  • Bun (recommended for faster installation and development)
  • PostgreSQL (version 14 or higher)
  • Git

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Clone the Repository

Start by cloning the ProStack repository to your local machine or using it as a template for your new project.

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Install Dependencies

ProStack uses Bun for dependency management and as a JavaScript runtime. While npm is supported, we recommend using Bun for the best performance: 
# Install Bun if you don't have it
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Install dependencies
bun install

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Set Up Environment Variables

ProStack requires several environment variables to function correctly. We provide example configuration files to help you get started:
  1. Copy the example environment file:
cp .env.example .env
  1. Open the .env file in your code editor and update the values as needed:
# Basic configuration
NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/prostack"

# Authentication secrets - generate with: openssl rand -hex 32
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="generated-secret-here"

# API keys for external services
RESEND_API_KEY="re_123456789" # Get from resend.com
OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-123456789" # Get from platform.openai.com
Refer to the Environment Variables section for detailed information about each variable.

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Database Setup

ProStack uses PostgreSQL as its database. Follow these steps to set up your database:
  1. Install PostgreSQL if you haven’t already:
    • macOS: brew install postgresql@16 && brew services start postgresql@16
    • Ubuntu: sudo apt install postgresql-16
    • Windows: Download installer from postgresql.org
  2. Create a PostgreSQL database: 
CREATE DATABASE prostack;
  1. Update the DATABASE_URL in your .env file with your PostgreSQL credentials.
  2. Run the database migrations to create the necessary tables: 
bun run db:push

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Start the Development Server

Once you’ve completed the setup, you can start the development server: 
bun run dev
Your ProStack application should now be running at http://localhost:3000.

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Next Steps

Now that you have ProStack up and running, here are some next steps to consider:

Environment Setup

Learn about advanced configuration options

Local Development

Development workflow and best practices

Authentication

Understand the authentication system

Database Management

Learn how to work with the database