Quick Start

Get Outpost running locally in under 5 minutes. You need Node.js 20+, pnpm 9+, and Docker for the local PostgreSQL instance.

Prerequisites

Clone and Install

terminal bash
# Clone the repository
git clone [email protected]:CopilotKit/outpost.git
cd outpost

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

Start the Database

Outpost uses PostgreSQL 16 for AI-powered search. The included docker-compose.yml handles this automatically.

terminal bash
# Start PostgreSQL 
docker compose up -d

# Verify it's running
docker compose ps

Configure Environment

Copy the example environment file and fill in your values. At minimum you need the database URL, which is pre-configured for the local Docker setup.

terminal bash
cp .env.example .env

# The default DATABASE_URL works with docker compose:
# DATABASE_URL=postgresql://outpost:outpost@localhost:5432/outpost

See the Configuration Reference for all available environment variables.

Set Up the Database Schema

terminal bash
# Generate the Prisma client
pnpm db:generate

# Push the schema to the database
pnpm db:push

# Seed with sample data (optional)
pnpm db:seed

Start Development

terminal bash
# Start all apps in development mode
pnpm dev

This starts five processes via Turborepo:

Tip: You can run individual apps with pnpm dev --filter=@copilotkit/outpost-web if you only need the dashboard.

First Run: Setup Wizard

When you open http://localhost:3000 for the first time, Outpost will redirect you to the Setup Wizard at /setup. The wizard walks you through three steps:

  1. Organization Details — name your organization and configure basic settings
  2. Admin Account — create the first admin user with email and password (credentials auth)
  3. Launch — confirm and launch into the dashboard

After completing the wizard, you'll land on the main dashboard, fully authenticated. The setup wizard only runs once — subsequent visits go straight to the login page.

Auth: Outpost uses credentials-based authentication by default (email + password). GitHub OAuth and OIDC providers can be enabled optionally via the AUTH_PROVIDER environment variable. See the Configuration Reference for details.

Next Steps

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