Installation
from zip to a running operator server.

01Unzip and open a terminal

1. Unzip the downloadThe source is in the source/ folder of the ZIP. Move it where you keep projects.
2. Open a terminal in itThe folder that contains package.json. Every command in these docs runs there.
3. Check Node.js

   node --version   # v20.19.0 or newer

02Install the packages

npm ci

This installs the exact versions in package-lock.json, including better-sqlite3 for the operator server. If it fails on better-sqlite3, see Troubleshooting.

03Check the project

One command runs every check the release passed: type checks for the app and the server, the unit tests, the server tests, the licence check, the contrast check and the production build.

npm run gate

On the release build (macOS, Node.js 22.22.2) this ran 256 unit tests (29 files) and 11 server tests, all passing; the licence check reported 37 production packages with no GPL, AGPL, SSPL or BUSL licence, and the contrast check passed. The tests run offline. If your machine is slow, run the unit tests with fewer workers: npx vitest run --maxWorkers=2.

04Build settings (optional now)

cp .env.example .env.local

Open .env.local in a text editor. For a first run you can leave everything as it is. Before real traffic, set your own VITE_RPC_URL (RPC). Every variable is explained in Configuration.

05Build the dApp

npm run build   # type check, then Vite writes dist/

On the release machine this took about 20 seconds. The result is the static site in dist/. Change a VITE_* value later? Build again.

06Start the operator server

1. Make a secret keyRequired The server refuses to start without ADMIN_SECRET_KEY (32 bytes, hex or base64). It encrypts the console's secrets at rest. Store it in your password manager and back it up: without it the encrypted values in the database cannot be read.

   export ADMIN_SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

2. Start the server

   npm run server

   It prints:

   [parachute] dApp     http://127.0.0.1:8787/
   [parachute] console  http://127.0.0.1:8787/admin
   [parachute] public   http://127.0.0.1:8787/api/public-config

3. Copy the one-time setup codeOn the first start, before an owner exists, the log also prints [admin] No owner account yet. Open /admin and create it with this one-time setup code: followed by a code like XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. It is shown only in this log and never sent anywhere. Each start before the owner exists prints a new code; any printed code works until the owner is created.
4. Create the ownerOpen http://127.0.0.1:8787/admin, enter the setup code, your email and a password of at least 12 characters, then Create owner and sign in.
5. Turn on two-factorConsole → Security & alerts → Set up two-factor. The console's Overview reminds you until you do.
6. Fill in Get startedConsole → Get started: product name, accent colour and support email. Then Finish setup.

07Check that it works

curl http://127.0.0.1:8787/api/health          # {"ok":true}
curl http://127.0.0.1:8787/api/public-config   # your public settings: fee 0, stocks off by default

• Open http://127.0.0.1:8787/: the dApp, served by the same process.
• Console → Status: the RPC check should pass ("chain 4663, block …").
• In the dApp, /settings and the status strip at the bottom show the config version and the fee in force.

Stop the server with Ctrl C. Your settings stay in server/data/admin.sqlite.

08Developing against the operator server

The development server (npm run dev) runs on safe defaults. To see your console settings in development, start the operator server in one terminal and the development server with a proxy in another:

PARACHUTE_SERVER=http://127.0.0.1:8787 npm run dev

vite.config.ts then forwards /api to the operator server.

09Next