Install from Source

This guide is for installing a local development copy of LogChimp from source code, primarily for development purposes.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, you'll need these global packages to be installed:

• Node.js (v12) - easiest way to install via nvm
• Yarn - to manage dependencies
• PostgreSQL (v12) - postgres database

You can read more about engine requirements from package.json on GitHub.

Fork repository

First, you'll need to make a fork of the LogChimp repository. Click on the fork button right at the top, wait for a copy to be created over on your personal GitHub account, and you should be all set!

• LogChimp Core - https://github.com/logchimp/logchimp
• LogChimp default theme - https://github.com/logchimp/theme

Install dependencies

yarn install

Once you run the command at the root repository, it will install all the required dependencies for client and backend.

Setup postgreSQL database

There are a few ways to set up a database.

• Download the official Postgres package
• Run a postgres docker container
• Use a remote or self-managed database

To spin up a database quickly and easily on your local machine, we recommend you to use the PostgreSQL docker image.

docker run -d \
  --name db \
  -p 5432 \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=$database_name \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=$database_user \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$strong_password \
  postgres:12.4

Once you take down the Postgres Docker container all the data is also removed, to persist the data on your machine, you can add this line.

-v logchimp_db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

Configuration file

Create a logchimp.config.json file in the root directory, which will contain all the configuration for the LogChimp site.

Start LogChimp

You need two separate terminal windows to run the client and backend separately.

# in terminal 1 - to run logchimp core
yarn run dev

# in terminal 2 - to run logchimp theme
yarn run dev