alchemist/docs/docs/contributing/development.md

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Development Setup	Setting up a local Alchemist development environment.

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.85+ (rustup update stable)
• Bun — frontend package manager
• FFmpeg — required for local testing
• just — task runner

Node.js is not required. Alchemist uses Bun for all frontend tooling.

Clone and run

git clone https://github.com/bybrooklyn/alchemist.git
cd alchemist
just install        # macOS / Linux bootstrap
just install-w      # Windows bootstrap
just dev            # supported on both paths in RC.2

Common tasks

just install        # macOS / Linux bootstrap
just install-w      # Windows bootstrap
just check          # supported on both paths in RC.2
just test           # cargo test
just test-e2e       # Playwright reliability suite
just db-reset       # wipe dev DB, keep config
just db-reset-all   # wipe DB and config (re-triggers wizard)
just bump 0.3.0-rc.2 # bump version in all files
just update 0.3.0-rc.2 # full guarded release flow

Windows support in RC.2

Windows contributor support in RC.2 covers the core path:

• just install-w
• just dev
• just check

The following remain Unix-first for now and are deferred to RC.3 or later:

• broader just utility recipes such as database and Docker helpers
• release-oriented guarded flows such as just update
• full Playwright contributor parity outside the documented manual verification path

Frontend only

cd web
bun install --frozen-lockfile
bun run dev         # dev server on :4321
bun run typecheck   # TypeScript check
bun run build       # production build

Backend only

cargo run           # starts on :3000
cargo clippy -- -D warnings
cargo fmt