Local Development

Prerequisites

Node.js + pnpm (required)

macOS

brew install nvm pnpm
mkdir -p ~/.nvm
echo 'export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo '[ -s "$(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh" ] && . "$(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
nvm install --lts
nvm use --lts
node -v
pnpm -v

Linux

# Debian/Ubuntu example
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"
nvm install --lts
nvm use --lts
corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate
node -v
pnpm -v

SeaweedFS weed binary (required unless using external S3)

macOS

brew install seaweedfs
weed version

SeaweedFS Compatibility Note (April 16, 2026)

If you see intermittent S3 InternalError upload failures with embedded storage, use SeaweedFS 4.18. OpenReader currently pins 4.18 in CI and Docker builds while 4.19 compatibility is investigated.

Linux

# Linux amd64 example (pin 4.18)
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
curl -fsSL -o /tmp/seaweedfs.tar.gz \
  https://github.com/seaweedfs/seaweedfs/releases/download/4.18/linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf /tmp/seaweedfs.tar.gz -C /tmp weed
install -m 0755 /tmp/weed "$HOME/.local/bin/weed"
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
weed version

SeaweedFS Compatibility Note (April 16, 2026)

If you see intermittent S3 InternalError upload failures with embedded storage, use SeaweedFS 4.18. OpenReader currently pins 4.18 in CI and Docker builds while 4.19 compatibility is investigated.

LibreOffice (optional, for DOCX conversion)

macOS

brew install libreoffice

Linux

# Debian/Ubuntu example
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y libreoffice

whisper.cpp (optional, for word-by-word highlighting)

Install build dependencies:

macOS

brew install cmake

Linux

# Debian/Ubuntu example
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git build-essential cmake

Build whisper.cpp:

# clone and build whisper.cpp (no model download needed – OpenReader handles that)
git clone https://github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp.git
cd whisper.cpp
cmake -B build
cmake --build build -j --config Release

# point OpenReader to the compiled whisper-cli binary
echo WHISPER_CPP_BIN="$(pwd)/build/bin/whisper-cli"

If you are not on Debian/Ubuntu, install equivalent packages with your distro package manager:

• Fedora/RHEL: use dnf (gcc gcc-c++ make cmake curl git tar xz)
• Arch: use pacman (base-devel cmake curl git tar xz)

tip

Set WHISPER_CPP_BIN in your .env to enable word-by-word highlighting.

Steps

Required flow

1. Clone the repository.

git clone https://github.com/richardr1126/openreader.git
cd openreader

2. Install dependencies.

pnpm i

3. Configure the environment.

cp .env.example .env

Then edit .env.

Use one of these .env mode templates:

No Auth (simple)

API_BASE=http://host.docker.internal:8880/v1
API_KEY=none
# Leave BASE_URL and AUTH_SECRET unset to keep auth disabled.
# (Admin panel is unavailable without auth.)
# API_BASE/API_KEY seed a shared default provider if you want shared mode.

Auth Enabled

API_BASE=http://host.docker.internal:8880/v1
API_KEY=none
BASE_URL=http://localhost:3003
AUTH_SECRET=<generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32>
# Optional when you need multiple local origins:
# AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3003,http://127.0.0.1:3003

Auth + Admin Panel

# API_BASE / API_KEY are seeded into the admin "default-openai" shared provider
# on first boot, then no longer read. Manage them in Settings → Admin afterwards.
API_BASE=http://host.docker.internal:8880/v1
API_KEY=none
BASE_URL=http://localhost:3003
AUTH_SECRET=<generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32>
# Comma-separated emails to auto-promote to admin on signin.
ADMIN_EMAILS=you@example.com

External S3

API_BASE=http://host.docker.internal:8880/v1
API_KEY=none
USE_EMBEDDED_WEED_MINI=false
S3_BUCKET=your-bucket
S3_REGION=us-east-1
S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-key
# Optional for non-AWS providers:
# S3_ENDPOINT=https://your-s3-compatible-endpoint
# S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE=true

Env vars vs. admin panel

On first boot, API_KEY / API_BASE and any NEXT_PUBLIC_* flags you've set get auto-seeded into the admin-managed runtime config (DB-backed, keys encrypted at rest). After that, the admin UI is authoritative and editing those env vars no longer changes app behavior. See Admin Panel.

User BYOK restriction default

If you want each user to enter personal provider credentials, set restrictUserApiKeys=false (from Settings → Admin when auth/admin is enabled, or via legacy first-boot seed NEXT_PUBLIC_RESTRICT_USER_API_KEYS=false for no-admin bootstrap flows).

info

For all environment variables, see Environment Variables.

See Auth for app/auth behavior. See Admin Panel for the shared-provider and feature-flag management UI. Storage configuration details are in Object / Blob Storage. Refer to Database for database modes. Learn about migration behavior and commands in Migrations.

4. Start the app.

Dev (recommended)

pnpm dev

Build + Start

pnpm build
pnpm start

API Base Reachability

API_BASE must be reachable from the Next.js server process, not just your browser.

Visit http://localhost:3003.

Optional workflows

Run manual DB migrations only for troubleshooting or explicit migration workflows:

• Migrations run automatically on startup through the shared entrypoint for both pnpm dev and pnpm start.

pnpm migrate

info

If POSTGRES_URL is set, migrations target Postgres; otherwise local SQLite is used. To disable automatic startup migrations, set RUN_DRIZZLE_MIGRATIONS=false and/or RUN_FS_MIGRATIONS=false. You can run storage migration manually with pnpm migrate-fs.