Install Seedly Communities from your source download, stand the backend and web app up on your own machine, and confirm the whole platform loads.
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This guide takes you from the source you downloaded to the whole community running on your own computer. You get the backend, the web app, the admin tools, and sample content to click around. Nothing here touches a live server or costs anything, so it is the safe place to learn the platform before you deploy to production.
Your download also ships a complete SETUP/ handbook inside the project folder, with numbered chapters that walk the whole path from prerequisites to launch day. This page is the condensed version.
From the project folder in a terminal, run the setup companion.
That launches Buzz, the Seedly Communities setup companion, who walks you through setup one small step at a time and checks your work as you go. If you would rather be led than read, run that command and follow along.
Buzz leans on a few commands you can also run yourself at any time.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
npx pnpm run setup:check | The doctor. Checks your setup and names anything missing or misconfigured, in plain English |
npx pnpm run gen:secrets | Mints the platform's own secret values so you do not have to invent them |
npx pnpm run provision | Creates your first owner account. Also used to fix a login that never got promoted to admin |
Seedly Communities has two halves that run together.
You will start both, point the web app at the backend, and open the site in a browser. This is the same shape as going live, just on your machine.
Install these once per computer.
Node runs the platform's code. Install the current LTS release from nodejs.org with the defaults, then confirm it.
You want a recent LTS major version as the first number.
The project installs and runs its building blocks with pnpm. You do not install it separately. The project reaches it through npx, which comes with Node, so wherever you see npx pnpm ..., that is pnpm. Confirm it responds (answer y if it offers to download).
The backend runs on Convex Cloud. Create a free account at convex.dev. The command line tool signs you in from the terminal the first time you run it, so there is nothing to configure by hand yet.
The web app deploys to Vercel. Create a free account at vercel.com. You do not need it for the local run, but setting it up now saves a step when you go live.
Git tracks your copy of the source and is how you pull future updates. On a Mac run xcode-select --install. On Windows install from git-scm.com with the defaults.
Your purchase email links to a download of the complete source. Unzip it, or if you were given a repository, clone it. Then point your terminal at the project folder.
On most systems you can type cd with a trailing space, drag the unzipped folder onto the terminal window, and press Enter.
From the project folder, install the building blocks.
Text scrolls by for a minute or two. It is done when you can type again.
The project ships an example environment file that lists every setting by name with blanks for the values. Copy it to a real local environment file and fill in what a local run needs, then run npx pnpm run gen:secrets to mint the platform's own secrets. The setup documentation names exactly which values are required to boot.
Each value is named for what it is for, never the value itself. The full purpose-only reference is on the Environment and Configuration page. Keep every secret out of Git and in a password manager.
Start the backend against a Convex development deployment. The command line tool signs you in the first time and creates a personal development deployment for you.
Leave this running in its own terminal window. It watches your backend code, pushes changes as you edit, and prints the development backend URL the web app will talk to. Copy that URL into the matching backend-URL setting in your local environment file if the setup documentation asks you to.
So the community is not an empty shell on first load, the project includes an onboarding seed that creates a recurring "Weekly Open Q&A" calendar event and a four-lesson "Start Here" course. Run it once from the project folder while the backend is running:
It is genuinely intended for your real site and is safe to run once - it creates starter content, not fake members or posts.
In a second terminal window, from the project folder, start the web app dev server.
This serves the community interface locally, usually at http://localhost:3000. Leave it running. Closing the window stops the server.
The supported way to mint the first owner account is the provisioner. Run it against your development deployment.
Then open the local address the web app printed, sign in with the owner email you just created, and explore.
This is the whole platform, running entirely on your computer.
You proved the full path works locally. The backend holds the community data, the web app renders and edits it, and the modules behave against real sample content. Going live is the same thing on your own Convex and Vercel accounts, with your own domain, which is the Deploying to Production guide.
npx pnpm run setup:check. It names what is wrong in plain English.SETUP/ handbook in your download. It is written to be followed in order and names the exact scripts for your version.Next, walk the Deploying to Production guide, or review the whole module list first.