classroomio/DEV_SETUP_NOTES.md

ClassroomIO — Local Dev Setup Guide

A practical guide to running classroomio locally for development, plus a troubleshooting reference for the errors you're likely to hit. Use it to set up a fresh machine or to onboard a new contributor.

Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Windows users: run the interactive commands in Git Bash (Unix commands like cp work there). The repo's package scripts are already cross-platform.

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1. Prerequisites

Tool	Version	Required?	Notes
Node.js	20.x (.nvmrc = v20.19.3)	Required	nvm install && nvm use
pnpm	10.x	Required	The package scripts call pnpm directly (e.g. build:clean runs pnpm run build) — npm/yarn are not supported substitutes. corepack enable then corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate, or npm i -g pnpm
Docker (Desktop)	latest	Required	Runs Postgres + Redis (and optionally MinIO). No local install of those needed.
Git	latest	Required	Windows: includes Git Bash
ffmpeg / ffprobe	latest	Optional	Only for media/thumbnail background jobs

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2. Setup steps

Step 1 — Install dependencies

pnpm i

Step 2 — Create the .env files

Each app/package reads its own .env. Copy each .env.example to .env and fill the values below (host ports). The secret values are placeholders — generate each one with openssl rand -hex 32 rather than copying the example text. The two PRIVATE_SERVER_KEY values must match, so generate it once and paste the same value into both files.

apps/api/.env

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/classroomio"
REDIS_URL="redis://localhost:6379"
PUBLIC_SERVER_URL="http://localhost:3002"
TRUSTED_ORIGINS="http://localhost:5173"        # the dashboard dev origin
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="<generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32>"
AUTH_BEARER_TOKEN="<generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32>"
PRIVATE_SERVER_KEY="<generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32>"   # generate once; use the SAME value in the dashboard

apps/dashboard/.env

PUBLIC_SERVER_URL="http://localhost:3002"
PRIVATE_SERVER_URL="http://localhost:3002"      # used by the SSR auth proxy — required for login
PRIVATE_SERVER_KEY="<generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32>"   # must match the API (paste the value generated above)
PUBLIC_IS_SELFHOSTED=true

apps/jobs/.env — only if you'll run the background workers (pnpm api:dev starts them). Simplest: copy the API env, which already has REDIS_URL + DATABASE_URL.

cp apps/api/.env apps/jobs/.env

packages/db/.env — used by the DB setup scripts (Step 4). Created there.

Why so many? The dashboard calls the API through a server-side proxy (/api/auth/*), so it needs PRIVATE_SERVER_URL. The API's better-auth needs BETTER_AUTH_SECRET (to sign sessions) and TRUSTED_ORIGINS (to trust the dashboard origin). Server-to-server data calls use the shared PRIVATE_SERVER_KEY.

Step 3 — Start infrastructure (Postgres + Redis)

docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yaml up -d postgres redis

(Optional — object storage for uploads: docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yaml --profile minio up -d minio minio-init.)

Step 4 — Set up + seed the database

cp packages/db/.env.example packages/db/.env     # contains DATABASE_URL for the db scripts
pnpm --filter @cio/db db:setup:seed              # creates schema + demo data

Step 5 — Build the shared packages once

pnpm build

The dashboard/api import workspace libs (@cio/ui, @cio/api, @cio/db, …) from their dist/, which only exists after a build. (If @cio/jobs-worker fails here on ffmpegProbeLuma, that's a known branch bug — see Known issues; it doesn't block dashboard/api.)

Step 6 — Run the app (two terminals)

pnpm api:dev          # API (port 3002) + background workers
pnpm dashboard:dev    # dashboard UI (port 5173)

Don't use pnpm dev — it tries to start the whole monorepo (~20 services) and currently trips a turbo concurrency limit. The two scoped commands above are the day-to-day workflow.

Step 7 — Log in

Open http://localhost:5173/login → admin@test.com / 123456.

Email (optional)

Email is off by default and the app runs fine without it. You only need it to test auth emails (verify/reset) and notifications.

To enable, set the SMTP vars in apps/api/.env (auth-flow emails) and apps/jobs/.env (all other emails) — both can point at the same server:

SMTP_HOST=  SMTP_PORT=  SMTP_USER=  SMTP_SENDER=  SMTP_PASSWORD=

Any SMTP provider works (Zoho ZeptoMail, Resend, Gmail SMTP, or Mailtrap for throwaway testing). See the inline notes in apps/api/.env.example for which emails each process sends.

Cost: most providers have a free tier for low volume; sustained/high volume is paid. For local dev a free sandbox (e.g. Mailtrap) or a provider's free tier is enough — developing costs nothing.

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3. Ports

Service	URL / Port	Notes
API	http://localhost:3002	backend (API_PORT default)
Dashboard	http://localhost:5173	Vite dev server
Postgres	localhost:5432	Docker container cio-postgres
Redis	localhost:6379	Docker container cio-redis
MinIO	9000 / console 9001	only if started (optional)
jobs-worker	(none)	background worker, no HTTP port

4. Demo accounts

Seeded accounts use password 123456 (verified against the seed's bcrypt hashes):

• admin@test.com / 123456 (admin — "Elon Gates")
• enterprise@test.com, early-adopter@test.com, and the *-student@test.com accounts — also 123456

test@test.com's seed hash doesn't match common passwords — use admin@test.com.

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5. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
no such service: db-init	db-init was removed; the api container now runs DB setup	Don't reference db-init. For host dev use db:setup:seed (Step 4).
DATABASE_URL or PRIVATE_DATABASE_URL ... required	packages/db/.env missing (db scripts read their own dir)	cp packages/db/.env.example packages/db/.env
password authentication failed for user "postgres"	localhost:5432 is another project's Postgres, not classroomio's	Stop the other container / free port 5432, then recreate: docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yaml up -d postgres
Failed to resolve entry for package "@cio/*"	shared packages not built (dist/ missing)	pnpm build, then re-run the dev commands
'rm'/'cp' is not recognized or spawn EINVAL (Windows)	Unix command / .cmd spawn in a script	Already fixed in-repo (rimraf, Node copy, shell:true). Run pnpm i to get latest.
invalid task configuration … N persistent tasks … concurrency	pnpm dev starts the whole monorepo past turbo's cap	Use scoped pnpm api:dev + pnpm dashboard:dev instead
ZodError … REDIS_URL ... expected string, received undefined	apps/jobs/.env missing REDIS_URL	cp apps/api/.env apps/jobs/.env and set REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
API upstream not configured (502) on login	dashboard SSR proxy has no upstream	Set PRIVATE_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3002 in apps/dashboard/.env, restart dashboard
Login Invalid email or password	wrong demo password	Use admin@test.com / 123456
Login still fails after upstream fix	API auth env empty	Fill BETTER_AUTH_SECRET, TRUSTED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:5173, PUBLIC_SERVER_URL in apps/api/.env, restart API
Changed a .env but nothing changed	env is read at process start	Restart the affected *:dev server

After editing any .env, restart the relevant dev server.

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6. Known issues (not setup problems)

• ffmpegProbeLuma not exported — branch bug (commit 78ab13f54): apps/jobs/src/processors/media/generate-thumbnail.ts imports ffmpegProbeLuma but apps/jobs/src/utils/ffmpeg.ts doesn't export it. Crashes the two media workers only; API / dashboard / emails / maintenance are fine. For the thumbnail-feature owner.
• ffmpeg/ffprobe not installed — media jobs need these binaries on PATH (or set FFMPEG_PATH / FFPROBE_PATH). Other workers are unaffected.
• pnpm dev concurrency — full-stack run needs a turbo --concurrency bump; intentionally not changed. Use the scoped workflow.

7. Windows notes

• Use Git Bash for interactive commands (cp, rm, etc.).
• The repo's package scripts were made cross-platform (rimraf instead of rm -rf, a Node postinstall, a Node file-copy, and shell:true when scripts spawn pnpm), so pnpm i / pnpm build work in cmd.exe/PowerShell too.