Quick start

This walkthrough installs Dopbase 0.0.8, starts a local server, imports an existing .env file, and runs an application with its secrets.

Testing release

Dopbase 0.0.8 is intended for testing and evaluation. The first public release will be 0.1.0.

1. Install Dopbase

The installer downloads the correct macOS or Linux archive from GitHub Releases, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and places dopbase in ~/.local/bin:

curl -fsSL https://dopbase.com/install.sh | sh

Add ~/.local/bin to PATH if the installer asks you to, then confirm the installation:

dopbase --version

Set DOPBASE_INSTALL_DIR to choose another directory. Set DOPBASE_VERSION to install a specific release.

2. Start the server

dopbase serve

The default local server exposes:

Admin UI: http://localhost:8840
API:      http://localhost:8840/api/v1
Database: ~/.dopbase/dopbase.db

The same address serves the Admin UI in a browser. The first visit walks you through claiming the server with the setup token; the Admin UI guide covers every screen.

Keep this process running while you use the client.

3. Confirm the client configuration

Open another terminal. With no configured server, Dopbase uses the local default automatically:

dopbase config

Server:          http://localhost:8840
Server source:   default
Authentication:  not logged in
Environment:     none (pass one explicitly)

No repository or global config file is required for the implicit local server. Use dopbase client connect <server-url> when targeting another local or self-hosted instance.

4. Sign in

dopbase login

login authenticates with the resolved server and saves the token in the operating system credential store.

5. Bootstrap a project

From an application directory with an existing .env file:

cd my-project
dopbase init my-project development --from .env

Dopbase atomically creates the project and its development environment, then stores every .env entry as an individual secret. It prints the immutable environment ID without writing Dopbase configuration into the repository.

6. Run the application

Use the readable environment reference while developing:

dopbase run my-project/development -- npm start

Dopbase retrieves that environment and adds its secrets to the child process. It does not write a new .env file to disk.

For production and staging deployments, use immutable environment IDs and separate scoped tokens. Read target projects and environments for the complete workflow.