computer-playbook/docs/contributing/environment/setup.md

Development Environment Setup

Use the repository's real setup flow. The main source of truth is the Makefile.

Important:

• Some local development commands change host settings such as DNS, AppArmor, and IPv6.
• Some commands use sudo.
• Read the setup guides first if you are new to this environment.
• The local development workflow is mainly tested on Linux.

Platform-Specific Instructions

• Linux
• macOS
• Windows (WSL2)

Shared Repository Workflow

These steps are the shared repository workflow and apply regardless of whether you work on Linux, macOS, or Windows with WSL2.

Bootstrap

Run these commands from the repository root:

make bootstrap
make environment-bootstrap
make up
make trust-ca

Bootstrap Commands

Phase	Command	What it does
Initial setup	make bootstrap	Installs project dependencies and runs the first repository setup.
Host preparation	make environment-bootstrap	Prepares the local development machine for the project workflow.
Start stack	make up	Starts the local development stack.
Browser trust	make trust-ca	Trusts the generated local CA so *.infinito.example works correctly in your browser.

Optional Development Marker

If you want to mark this checkout as a development environment, run:

make mark-development

This step is optional. It creates an empty env.development file in the repository root.

Several tools (e.g. cli/deploy/development/compose.py, scripts/meta/resolve/apps.sh) pass env.ci as the base env-file to Docker Compose and then, when env.development exists, append it as a second --env-file. Because Docker Compose applies env-files in order, any variable defined in env.development overrides the corresponding value from env.ci. This lets you customize local settings (ports, image tags, flags) without modifying the shared env.ci file.

The pre-commit hooks are installed automatically by make environment-bootstrap and do not depend on this marker.

Teardown

When you are done, use these commands to stop the stack and clean up the local environment:

make down
make environment-teardown

Teardown Commands

Phase	Command	What it does
Stop stack	make down	Stops the local development stack.
Host cleanup	make environment-teardown	Reverts local development environment changes where supported.

Full Development Flow

The repository already contains a modular environment test suite at scripts/tests/environment/. The commands from that suite are explained here as the intended end-to-end flow.

Flow Summary

Step	Command	Purpose in this flow
1	make install	Installs the dependencies needed before running the local development flow.
2	make environment-bootstrap	Prepares the host machine for local development.
3	make up	Starts the development stack.
4	make test	Runs the main combined validation flow.
5	APPS=web-app-matomo make deploy-fresh-purged-apps	Runs the baseline validation path for one concrete app. For the retry-loop policy, see Iteration.
6	make trust-ca	Makes the generated local certificates trusted by the host browser.
7	make down	Stops the running development stack.
8	make environment-teardown	Cleans up host-side development environment changes.

Use this as a practical reference when you want to understand how local development is expected to work.

Minimal Hardware Resources

If you work on a machine with limited CPU, RAM, or disk space, use the guide at Manage Low-Hardware Resources. The public article with the same topic is Developing on PCs with Limited Resources.

For local deploy shortcuts and end-to-end checks, see Development.