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Setup

This section walks you through setting up a local development environment for ChurchApps projects. You can either point your frontend at the shared demo APIs for quick development, or run the full stack locally for backend work.

Two Approaches​

There are two ways to develop locally, depending on how much of the stack you need:

1. Point to the Demo APIs (Easiest)​

If you are working on a frontend project (web app, mobile app, or desktop app), the fastest path is to point your local app at the shared demo APIs. No database or backend setup required.

The demo API base URL is:

https://api.demo.churchapps.org

Each API module is available at a path under this base, for example:

https://api.demo.churchapps.org/membership
https://api.demo.churchapps.org/attendance
https://api.demo.churchapps.org/giving

The demo environment runs the latest code from main, and its sample data is repopulated every night, so don't expect anything you create there to last. (The former staging environment, api.staging.churchapps.org, has been retired. Some sample .env files may still list staging URLs -- replace them with the demo or local URLs.)

vihje

This approach lets you start making frontend changes in minutes. It is the recommended path for most contributors.

2. Run Everything Locally​

If you need to modify API code or work offline, you can run the full stack locally. This requires MySQL 8.0+ and additional configuration. See the API local setup guide for detailed instructions.

Getting Started​

Follow these pages in order:

  1. Prerequisites -- Install the required tools (Node.js, Git, MySQL, etc.)
  2. Project Overview -- Understand which projects exist and what they do
  3. Environment Variables -- Configure your .env files to connect everything together
tieto

Each ChurchApps project is an independent Git repository. You only need to clone the specific project(s) you want to work on.