Development Environment Setup

Walk through each step in order, verifying success before moving on.

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Step 1: Prerequisites

Check that the following are installed:

node --version    # must be 20+
pnpm --version    # must be 9+
docker info       # Docker must be running

If Node is missing or wrong version: install via nvm or nodejs.org. If pnpm is missing: npm install -g pnpm or corepack enable && corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate. If Docker is not running: start Docker Desktop before continuing.

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Step 2: Install dependencies

Run from the repo root:

pnpm install --filter frontend

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Step 3: Environment variables

Create frontend/.env and populate it with the values below. Ask a team member for the secret values — they are shared via the team's secrets manager.

Required secrets (get from team):

• NUXT_PUBLIC_AUTH0_CLIENT_ID
• NUXT_AUTH0_CLIENT_SECRET
• NUXT_JWT_SECRET
• NUXT_TINYBIRD_TOKEN — data won't load without this

Database — only needed if you will run Step 4 (Postgres). Use these exact values:

NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_WRITE_HOST=localhost
NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_READ_HOST=localhost
NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_PORT=5450
NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_USERNAME=postgres
NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_PASSWORD=example
NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_DATABASE=insights

Database, auth, and other runtime config vars must use the NUXT_ prefix so Nuxt's runtime config picks them up automatically. A few server-only vars (e.g. APP_ENV) are read directly via process.env and do not need the prefix — check frontend/setup/runtime-config.ts for the full list.

Collections feature — only needed if working on collections endpoints:

NUXT_CM_DB_ENABLED=true

This also requires crowd.dev (crowd-web) DB credentials — ask the team for them.

Tell the user to let you know when their .env is ready, then continue to Step 4.

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Step 4: Start the local database (optional)

Ask the user: Do you need to work on any of the following features locally?

• Auth / login flow
• Collections pages (/collection/*, "add to collection" buttons)
• Copilot / chat

Use AskUserQuestion to confirm before proceeding. If the answer is no, skip to Step 5 — the dev server runs fine without Postgres, and any route that needs the DB will return an error only when hit directly.

If the answer is yes, continue with the steps below.

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4a. Check for port conflicts

lsof -i :5450 | grep LISTEN

Use port 5450 (the port used throughout this guide — the Nuxt runtime default is 5432, but we use 5450 here to avoid colliding with any local Postgres instance). If it's already occupied, pick a free port, use it in the docker run -p flag below, and update NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_PORT in frontend/.env to match.

4b. Start Postgres

If the insights-postgres container already exists, just start it:

docker start insights-postgres

Otherwise create it:

docker run -d \
  --name insights-postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=example \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=insights \
  -p 5450:5432 \
  postgres:15-alpine \
  postgres -c wal_level=logical

wal_level=logical is required — one migration creates a logical replication slot for Sequin and will fail without it.

Wait for Postgres to be ready:

until docker exec insights-postgres pg_isready -U postgres; do sleep 1; done

4c. Run migrations

cd database && \
  PGHOST=host.docker.internal \
  PGPORT=5450 \
  PGDATABASE=insights \
  PGUSER=postgres \
  PGPASSWORD=example \
  bash migrate.sh

Linux: host.docker.internal may not resolve. Use PGHOST=localhost with --host-network instead:

cd database && PGHOST=localhost PGPORT=5450 PGDATABASE=insights PGUSER=postgres PGPASSWORD=example bash migrate.sh --host-network

4d. Verify

docker exec insights-postgres psql -U postgres -d insights -c "\dt"

Expected: tables including chat_responses, project_costs, vulnerabilities, etc.

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Step 5: Start the dev server

5a. Check for port :3000 conflicts

lsof -nP -iTCP:3000 -sTCP:LISTEN

If a process is listed, do not switch ports — the Auth0 redirect URI and appUrl are hardcoded to localhost:3000 in frontend/setup/runtime-config.ts. Switching the port will break login. Kill the existing listener instead:

lsof -ti tcp:3000 | xargs kill        # graceful (SIGTERM)
lsof -ti tcp:3000 | xargs kill -9     # force, if the above doesn't clear it

5b. Start the server

cd frontend && pnpm dev

The app will be available at http://localhost:3000.

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Verification

1. Open http://localhost:3000 — the app should load
2. Auth0 login should work if the Auth0 env vars are set
3. Data should appear on project pages if the Tinybird token is set
4. If you skipped Step 4: analytics, leaderboards, reports, badges, and search work. Auth, collections, and chat will return errors — that's expected.
5. If you ran Step 4: check the container is running: docker ps | grep insights-postgres

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Port 3000 already in use	Run lsof -ti tcp:3000 | xargs kill — do not switch ports, Auth0 callback is hardcoded to :3000
DB errors but I skipped Step 4	Expected for auth/collections/chat routes — run Step 4 if you need those features
Port 5450 already in use	Pick a free port (e.g. -p 5455:5432) and update NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_PORT in .env
host.docker.internal not resolving (Linux)	Use PGHOST=localhost with --host-network
Migration checksum mismatch	Never edit an applied migration — create a new one with /db-migrate new <name>
Auth errors in browser	Check Auth0 env vars in frontend/.env
No data showing	Check NUXT_TINYBIRD_TOKEN is populated in frontend/.env
503 on collections endpoints	Add NUXT_CM_DB_ENABLED=true and CM DB credentials to frontend/.env
DB env vars not picked up	Ensure all vars have the NUXT_ prefix — e.g. NUXT_INSIGHTS_DB_PORT, not INSIGHTS_DB_PORT
Container exists but wrong settings	docker rm -f insights-postgres then re-run the docker run command

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Teardown

docker stop insights-postgres && docker rm insights-postgres

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For running docs or blog locally, use /setup-docs. For applying new migrations, use /db-migrate.