Setting up local development

This guide will help you set up a local development environment for Inboxt.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20 or newer recommended)
• npm (v10 or newer)
• Docker and Docker Compose
• Git

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Inboxt/inboxt.git
cd inboxt

Setup environment variables

Copy the local development environment file:

cp dev.env.example .env

The default values in dev.env.example are pre-configured to work with the Docker Compose infrastructure.

Install dependencies

From the root of the monorepo:

npm install

Running the development environment

The simplest way to start developing is by using the pre-configured Docker Compose setup for infrastructure (PostgreSQL, Valkey, Mailpit) while running the apps locally.

Start infrastructure and backend

npm run dev

This command uses concurrently to:

1. Start infrastructure services via docker-compose.dev.yml.
2. Start the frontend web app.

NOTE

The backend API is built into the Docker image in docker-compose.dev.yml for consistency.

Apps and Ports

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000
• Backend API: http://localhost:7000/api (The core API, including "Hello World" and webhook endpoints)
• GraphQL Playground: http://localhost:7000/api/graphql (For direct schema exploration)
• Mailpit UI (Local Email): http://localhost:8025

Default User

When you run the seed script (npm run api:docker:seed), a default demo account is created:

• Email: default@inboxt.app
• Password: Password1@

Common Commands

Database Migrations

Inboxt uses node-pg-migrate for database migrations (using its programmatic TypeScript API) and Prisma as an ORM.

• Create a new migration: npm run migrate:create --workspace=apps/api <name>
• Run migrations (up): npm run api:migrate:up
• Rollback migrations (down): npm run migrate:down --workspace=apps/api
• Generate Prisma client: npm run api:docker:generate

Type Checking and Linting

• Type Check: npm run type:check-api, npm run type:check-web
• Lint: npm run lint:api, npm run lint:web

Developing the Browser Extension

To develop the browser extension:

npm run dev:extension

This will start the extension development server. WXT will automatically launch a pre-loaded browser instance for you with the extension enabled.

IMPORTANT

To use the extension's save features, you must have the Inboxt infrastructure (API and DB) running. It is recommended to run npm run dev from the root first, as the extension communicates with your local instance.

If you need to manually load it for any reason, follow the instructions in apps/web-extension/README.md.