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Getting Started

Welcome to AccessALI! This guide will help you set up your development environment and start contributing to the project.

What You'll Learn

  • System requirements and prerequisites
  • How to install and configure AccessALI
  • Quick start guides for both Docker and local development
  • Verification steps to ensure everything works

Development Approaches

AccessALI supports two development approaches:

Best for: - Quick onboarding (< 5 minutes) - Consistent environment across team - Production parity - No local dependencies

See: Docker Setup Guide

Local Setup

Best for: - Direct access to Node.js tools - Faster iteration cycles - Debugging with native tools - Working without Docker

See: Local Setup Guide

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

Required

  • Node.js 20 LTS or higher
  • pnpm 10.10.0 or higher
  • Git for version control
  • Docker Desktop 4.0+ or Docker Engine 20.10+
  • Docker Compose 2.0+ (usually included with Docker Desktop)

For Local Setup

  • PostgreSQL 16 (or Neon DB account)
  • Redis 7 (optional, for caching)
  • VS Code with recommended extensions
  • Postman or similar API testing tool
  • Database client (Prisma Studio, pgAdmin, or TablePlus)

Quick Reference

Task Docker Local
Start development pnpm docker:dev pnpm dev
Run migrations pnpm docker:db:migrate pnpm db:migrate
View database pnpm docker:db:studio pnpm db:studio
Stop services pnpm docker:down Ctrl+C

Next Steps

  1. Check Prerequisites

  2. Choose your setup:

Getting Help

If you encounter issues:

  1. Check the Troubleshooting section
  2. Review Common Issues
  3. Ask in the team Slack channel
  4. Create an issue in GitHub

Troubleshooting

Port Already in Use

# Find process using port 3000
lsof -i :3000

# Kill the process
kill -9 <PID>

Database Connection Failed

# Docker: Check logs
pnpm docker:logs:app

# Docker: Restart database
docker restart accessali-postgres

# Local: Check connection string
echo $DATABASE_URL

Container Won't Start

# Clean everything and rebuild
pnpm docker:clean
pnpm docker:dev:build

Common Issues

Docker Issues

Problem: "Cannot connect to Docker daemon"

Solution: 

# macOS: Start Docker Desktop
open -a Docker

# Linux: Start Docker service
sudo systemctl start docker

Problem: "Port is already allocated"

Solution: 

# Stop conflicting containers
docker ps
docker stop <container_name>

# Or change ports in docker-compose.yml

pnpm Issues

Problem: "Command not found: pnpm"

Solution: 

# Install pnpm globally
npm install -g pnpm@10.10.0

# Or use Node.js Corepack
corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@10.10.0 --activate

Git Issues

Problem: "Pre-commit hooks failing"

Solution: 

# Install Husky hooks
cd src
pnpm prepare

# Run linting manually
pnpm lint

Additional Resources