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Who This Guide Is For

This development setup guide is designed for:

Open Source Contributors

Developers who want to contribute to the GAIA project by fixing bugs, adding features, or improving documentation

Customizers

Developers who want to modify GAIA for their specific use cases or integrate it with custom systems

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:
  • Docker Desktop or Docker Engine
  • Docker Compose
  • At least 4GB of available RAM
  • 10GB of free disk space
  • Git (for version control)
  • Python 3.11+ (for backend development)
  • Node.js 18+ (for frontend development)
  • pnpm (for frontend package management)
  • uv (for Python package management)
  • macOS, Linux, or Windows with WSL2
  • At least 8GB of RAM (16GB recommended)
  • SSD storage for better performance

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Development Environment Setup

To start developing on GAIA, you need to set up your local environment. You can choose between an automated setup using our script or a manual setup.
  • Automated Setup
  • Manual Setup
We provide a script that automates the entire setup process. This is the recommended method for most users.
1

Setup Environment Variables

First, copy the example environment files and configure them:
cp backend/.env.example backend/.env
cp frontend/.env.example frontend/.env
Then configure your environment variables by following the Environment Variables Reference.
2

Run the Setup Script

Open your terminal and run the following command from the project root:
./scripts/setup.sh
This script will:
  • Start all Docker services
  • Create a Python virtual environment.
  • Install backend dependencies with uv.
  • Install frontend dependencies with pnpm.
3

You're Ready!

Your development environment is now ready to go!
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