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Quickstart Guide

Get the Vertical Farm platform running locally in 5 minutes.

🎯 Goal

By the end of this guide, you'll have: - ✅ The complete application stack running locally - ✅ Frontend at http://localhost:3000 - ✅ Backend API at http://localhost:8000 - ✅ Local Supabase database with Studio UI - ✅ Ready to develop without cloud dependencies

Prerequisites: Docker, Supabase CLI, and Git installed

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/eddie-rowe/vertical-farm.git
cd vertical-farm

# 2. Start Supabase (local database + auth + realtime)
supabase start

# 3. Run the setup script
chmod +x scripts/setup-local-dev.sh
./scripts/setup-local-dev.sh

# 4. Access everything
# Frontend: http://localhost:3000
# Backend API: http://localhost:8000
# API Docs: http://localhost:8000/docs
# Supabase Studio: http://localhost:54323

That's it! 🎉 You now have a complete local development environment.

🛠️ Option 2: Manual Setup

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+, Python 3.13+, Supabase CLI

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/eddie-rowe/vertical-farm.git
cd vertical-farm

# 2. Start Supabase (Terminal 1)
supabase start
# Note the anon key and service_role key from the output

# 3. Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local with the keys from supabase status

# 4. Start the backend (Terminal 2)
cd backend
pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn app.main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

# 5. Start the frontend (Terminal 3)  
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

🌐 What's Running?

Service URL Description
Frontend http://localhost:3000 Next.js 15 React application
Backend API http://localhost:8000 FastAPI Python backend
API Docs http://localhost:8000/docs Interactive API documentation
Supabase Studio http://localhost:54323 Database management UI
Supabase API http://localhost:54321 Local Supabase REST API
Inbucket Email http://localhost:54324 Email testing interface

🧪 Quick Test

Verify everything works:

  1. Visit Frontend: http://localhost:3000
  2. Check API Health: http://localhost:8000/health
  3. Browse API Docs: http://localhost:8000/docs

You should see the Vertical Farm dashboard and be able to interact with the API!

🗝️ Environment Variables

The Supabase CLI automatically generates all necessary keys for local development:

# Get your local credentials
supabase status

# This will show:
# API URL: http://localhost:54321          # Use for SUPABASE_URL
# anon key: eyJ...                         # Use for SUPABASE_ANON_KEY  
# service_role key: eyJ...                 # Use for SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY

Your .env.local should contain: 

# Frontend
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=http://localhost:54321
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your_anon_key_from_status

# Backend  
SUPABASE_URL=http://localhost:54321
SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY=your_service_role_key_from_status

💡 Note: The setup script handles this automatically!

Login to application

  1. Visit http://localhost:3000/login
  2. You can now log into the application using:
  3. Email: testuser123@gmail.com
  4. Password: testpassword123

🚦 Next Steps

Now that it's running:

❓ Troubleshooting

Supabase won't start? 

# Check if ports are in use
lsof -i :54321  # Supabase API
lsof -i :54322  # PostgreSQL

# Stop and clean up
supabase stop
supabase db reset  # Warning: This deletes all data!
supabase start

Port conflicts? 

# For app services
docker-compose -f docker-compose-with-supabase-cli.yml down
docker-compose -f docker-compose-with-supabase-cli.yml up -d

# Or change ports in manual setup:
uvicorn app.main:app --port 8080  # Backend on 8080
npm run dev -- --port 3001        # Frontend on 3001

Database connection issues? 

# Check Supabase is running
supabase status

# View Supabase logs
supabase logs

# Restart everything
supabase stop
supabase start
./scripts/setup-local-dev.sh

Still stuck? Check the Troubleshooting Guide or open an issue.

🎉 Success! You now have a working Vertical Farm platform. Ready to explore?