Installation

How to run the marketing website (frontend + API + database) locally. The product app has its own setup in ../../backend and is not required to run the website.

Prerequisites

Tool	Version	Notes
Node.js	20+	Required by Next.js 15 and the Express API
npm	10+	Ships with Node 20
PostgreSQL	14+	The website's database (separate from the product)

The product app additionally needs Java 21 and MongoDB, but those are only for ../../backend - not for the website.

1. Database

Create a database and a user the API can connect as. For local development:

CREATE ROLE leadfella WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'leadfella';
CREATE DATABASE leadfella OWNER leadfella;

The default development connection string is postgresql://leadfella:leadfella@localhost:5432/leadfella. Adjust to match your setup and put it in the backend's .env (see configuration.md).

2. Backend (Express API)

cd website/backend
cp .env.example .env          # then edit DATABASE_URL + admin/JWT secrets
npm install
npm run migrate               # create tables + indexes (also runs on startup)
npm run seed:admin -- "your-admin-password"   # prints a bcrypt hash for .env
npm run dev                   # http://localhost:4000  (tsx watch)

npm run migrate applies the SQL migrations in backend/migrations/. Pending migrations also run automatically on server startup, so the schema is created on first boot.
npm run seed:admin prints a bcrypt hash; copy it into ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH in .env (preferred over a plaintext ADMIN_PASSWORD).
Check health: open http://localhost:4000/api/health (liveness) and http://localhost:4000/api/health/db (database readiness).

3. Frontend (Next.js site)

cd website/frontend
npm install
npm run dev                   # http://localhost:3000

By default the frontend calls the API at http://localhost:4000. To point it elsewhere, set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL (see configuration.md).

4. Verify it works

Visit http://localhost:3000 - the marketing site loads.
Go to /pricing and submit the early-access form. You should see a success state.
Open http://localhost:3000/admin, sign in with the admin email + password, and confirm the new signup appears under Leads.

Useful scripts

Frontend (`website/frontend`)

Script	Purpose
`npm run dev`	Dev server (http://localhost:3000)
`npm run build`	Production build
`npm start`	Serve the production build
`npm run lint`	ESLint
`npm run typecheck`	Type-check without emitting

Backend (`website/backend`)

Script	Purpose
`npm run dev`	Watch-mode dev server (tsx)
`npm run build`	Compile TypeScript to `dist/`
`npm start`	Run the compiled server
`npm run typecheck`	Type-check without emitting
`npm run migrate`	Apply pending SQL migrations
`npm run seed:admin`	Print a bcrypt hash for the admin password
`npm run list-leads`	List early-access signups (filters)
`npm run delete-lead`	Delete a signup by id or `--email`
`npm run export-leads`	Export signups to CSV (filters)
`npm run list-admins`	Show the configured admin account
`npm run delete-admin`	Print steps to revoke the admin account

See troubleshooting.md if anything fails to start.