Setup

This guide will walk you through setting up LaunchFast. We will go through the process of cloning the project, installing dependencies, setting up your database and running the local development server.

Prerequisites

Before you can get started, you will need to have the following installed on your machine.

Node.js (v18 or higher)

Git

VSCode (recommended, or any other code editor)

Project setup

1. Create a new database

   You can use any database including PostgreSQL, SQLite, Redis, MongoDB, and Firestore.

   Before creating a new LaunchFast project, make sure to have created a new database and have the environment variables ready. For example when using PostgreSQL, the connection string will look something like this:

   postgresql://user:password@host:port/database

2. Initialize a new LaunchFast project

   First you need to clone the LaunchFast repository:

   Astro

   git clone https://github.com/LaunchFast-Boilerplates/launchfa.st-astro

   SvelteKit

   git clone https://github.com/LaunchFast-Boilerplates/launchfa.st-sveltekit

   Next.js

   git clone https://github.com/LaunchFast-Boilerplates/launchfa.st-nextjs

   Next, we are going to install all the dependencies. Make sure you have installed npm before running the following command:

   npm install

   Now, we need to set up the environment variables. To do this, copy the .env.example file in the root of your project and rename it to .env.

   Then open the .env file and set at least the DATABASE_TYPE and the relevant database provider environment variables:

   # Database
   
   ## "pg" OR "redis" OR "mongodb" OR "sqlite" OR "firestore"
   DATABASE_TYPE="pg"
   
   ## Redis (/Upstash) Environment Variable
   REDIS_URL="redis://default:...@...upstash.io:..."
   
   ## Postgres (/Neon) Environment Variable
   POSTGRES_URL="postgresql://neondb_owner:...@...-pooler.us-east-2.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require"
   
   ## MongoDB Environment Variable
   MONGODB_URL="mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<prefix>.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority&appName=Cluster0"
   
   ## SQLite Environment Variable
   SQLITE_URL="libsql://....turso.io"
   SQLITE_AUTH_TOKEN="..."
   
   ## Firebase
   FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID="..."
   FIREBASE_PRIVATE_KEY_ID="..."
   FIREBASE_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n"
   FIREBASE_CLIENT_EMAIL="firebase-adminsdk-..@...iam.gserviceaccount.com"
   FIREBASE_CLIENT_ID="..."
   FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET="gs://...appspot.com"

   Further, to initiate the relevant schema on the database provider, run the following:

   npm run db:setup

   The last step is to set the LaunchFast repository as the upstream origin for your project, so you can pull in updates in the future.

   Run the following commands:

   Astro

   rm -rf .git
   git init
   git remote set upstream https://github.com/LaunchFast-Boilerplates/launchfa.st-astro
   git add -A
   git commit -m "Initial commit"
   git push

   SvelteKit

   rm -rf .git
   git init
   git remote set upstream https://github.com/LaunchFast-Boilerplates/launchfa.st-sveltekit
   git add -A
   git commit -m "Initial commit"
   git push

   Next.js

   rm -rf .git
   git init
   git remote set upstream https://github.com/LaunchFast-Boilerplates/launchfa.st-nextjs
   git add -A
   git commit -m "Initial commit"
   git push

3. Set up your storage provider

   Storage is necessary to upload and serve files like images for example for the avatars of users. LaunchFast supports all S3-compatible storage providers (AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, and Supabase Storage) and Firebase Storage.

4. Start your development server

   Now your app should be ready to go. To start the local development server, navigate into your project root folder and run the following command.

   npm run dev

   Open localhost:3000 in your browser to see the your app.