artcraft/_docs/dev_setup_local_stack.md

Local Dev Stack — Requirements & Bootstrap

How to run the full ArtCraft dev stack entirely locally — the storyteller-web backend plus the artcraft-webapp frontend — with no traffic to production servers. Scope: webapp-first; the Tauri desktop app is a later phase.

The automated path on Windows (primary platform, native — no WSL, no Docker, no admin rights for the stack itself):

.\script\bootstrap\windows\bootstrap_dev_stack.ps1   # one-time setup, idempotent, re-run anytime
.\script\bootstrap\windows\run_backend_dev.ps1       # terminal 1: API on http://localhost:12345
.\script\bootstrap\windows\seed_demo_user.ps1        # terminal 2: create demo login (localdev1 / localdev1pass)
cd frontend; npx nx dev artcraft-webapp              # terminal 2: webapp on http://localhost:4201
.\script\bootstrap\windows\dev_stack_doctor.ps1      # health check, any time
.\script\bootstrap\windows\stop_dev_services.ps1     # stop MySQL/Redis when done

The equivalent on Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+ — native, WSL2, or CI):

./script/bootstrap/bootstrap_dev_stack.sh    # one-time setup, idempotent, re-run anytime
./script/bootstrap/run_backend_dev.sh        # terminal 1: API on http://localhost:12345
./script/bootstrap/seed_demo_user.sh         # terminal 2: create demo login (localdev1 / localdev1pass)
cd frontend && npx nx dev artcraft-webapp    # terminal 2: webapp on http://localhost:4201
./script/bootstrap/dev_stack_doctor.sh       # health check, any time

This document records the underlying requirements so the scripts aren't a black box, and corrects some stale claims in older docs.

Supported platforms

Platform	Status
Windows 10/11	Primary. script/bootstrap/windows/*.ps1 run a portable stack: MySQL 8.4 (official zip) and Redis live under the gitignored .devstack/ and run as plain user processes — no admin, no services, no WSL, no Docker. Build tools (cmake, perl, nasm, llvm) are offered via winget
Ubuntu 22.04+	Supported by script/bootstrap/*.sh (native, WSL2, or CI runner/container); services via apt
macOS	Not covered by the scripts; follow _docs/dev_setup_server.md manually

Windows specifics

• Everything stateful lives in .devstack/ (gitignored): mysql/ (extracted zip), mysql-data/, redis/, logs/, pids/, downloads/ (cached zips), my.ini. Delete the directory to fully reset; re-run bootstrap to rebuild.
• Pinned services: MySQL 8.4.11 from cdn.mysql.com (the 8.x series is required; only some patch versions exist on the CDN) and Redis 5.0.14.1 (tporadowski build — old but sufficient for the backend's keepalive/TTL/ rate-limit usage; override REDIS_ZIP_URL to use Memurai/Garnet instead).
• The portable MySQL root user has no password (--initialize-insecure) — local dev only, bound to 127.0.0.1.
• diesel-cli is compiled against the portable MySQL's own client library (MYSQLCLIENT_LIB_DIR/MYSQLCLIENT_VERSION); libmysql.dll must be on PATH to run it — the scripts handle both.
• Compiling the backend needs cmake, Strawberry Perl, NASM, and LLVM/libclang (the wreq HTTP client builds BoringSSL, and aws-lc-sys/ring need NASM/clang on MSVC). The bootstrap checks and offers winget installs.
• The generated secrets file additionally sets TEMP_DIR (the upload temp-dir helper defaults to /tmp, which doesn't exist on Windows).

Requirements matrix

Requirement	Version / detail	Needed for
MySQL server	8.x series (9.x unsupported by tooling)	Backend boot (eager connect) + migrations
Redis server	any recent	Backend boot (r2d2 pool connects eagerly)
Rust (stable)	no pinned MSRV; Docker builds use 1.93.0	Building storyteller-web, diesel_cli
diesel_cli	cargo install diesel_cli --no-default-features --features mysql,sqlite	Running the 281 migrations
Node.js	20+ (enforced by script/common/frontend_preflight.sh)	Frontend (Nx 21 / Vite 6)
npm	ships with Node; pnpm must not be used	Frontend install (frontend/package-lock.json)
System libs (apt)	build-essential, cmake, libssl-dev, libclang-dev, libfontconfig1-dev, fontconfig, perl, pkg-config, ffmpeg, libmysqlclient-dev, libsqlite3-dev, curl, jq	Compiling the workspace + diesel_cli; seeding scripts
Elasticsearch	optional (7.x)	Only 4 search endpoints; server boots without it
Docker	not required — no docker-compose exists	—

Database identity (used consistently by docs, .env, and defaults): database storyteller, user storyteller, password password, host localhost.

Backend: what storyteller-web needs to boot

Binary: storyteller-web in crates/service/web/storyteller_web (binaries: storyteller-web, docs — Swagger UI on :8989, docs-cli — emits api.json). Binds 0.0.0.0:12345 (BIND_ADDRESS), plain HTTP. Run it from the repo root — the config search path and includes/ paths are cwd-relative.

Config loading (corrected facts)

• Mode is selected by the SERVER_ENVIRONMENT process env var only (default: Development). Setting it inside an env file does nothing — it is read before any file loads.
• In Development mode, files load from crates/service/web/storyteller_web/config/ in this order: storyteller-web.common.env → storyteller-web.development.env → storyteller-web.development-secrets.env (gitignored; the bootstrap generates it).
• Precedence is first-value-wins (dotenv never overrides an existing key): real process env > common.env > development.env > development-secrets.env. The secrets file therefore cannot override anything already set in development.env.
• The repo-root .env is NOT loaded by the server (it passes ignore_legacy_dot_env_file: true). Root .env's DATABASE_URL feeds diesel-cli/sqlx-cli only; the server reads MYSQL_URL (default mysql://storyteller:password@localhost/storyteller).

Hard requirements at boot

Requirement	Behavior if missing
MySQL reachable via MYSQL_URL	Boot fails (sqlx pool connects eagerly; the DB must exist and be migrated — health-check and ban-poller threads query immediately)
Redis reachable via REDIS_0_URL (default redis://localhost/0)	Boot fails (r2d2 pool connects eagerly)
~30 get_env_string_required vars present	Boot fails on the first absent var

Of the required-present vars, 19 are supplied by no checked-in file and live in the generated secrets file: ACCESS_KEY, SECRET_KEY, REGION_NAME, W2L_PRIVATE_DOWNLOAD_BUCKET_NAME, W2L_PUBLIC_DOWNLOAD_BUCKET_NAME, RESEND_API_KEY, FAL_API_KEY, GMICLOUD_API_KEY, GROK_API_KEY, BEEBLE_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, WORLDLABS_API_KEY, SEEDANCE2PRO_COOKIES, SEEDANCE2PRO_WHITELIST_COOKIES, SEEDANCE2PRO_BYTEPLUS_ULTRA_COOKIES, STRIPE_FAKEYOU_ACCOUNT_ID, STRIPE_ARTCRAFT_ACCOUNT_ID, STRIPE_ARTCRAFT_SECRET_KEY, STRIPE_ARTCRAFT_SECRET_WEBHOOK_KEY.

Placeholder values are safe at boot: none of these services is contacted at boot (clients are constructed offline; Elasticsearch, S3/R2, Stripe, Resend, and Google-cert fetches are all lazy). But two earlier claims here were wrong and are corrected:

• The omni_gen endpoints call providers synchronously in the HTTP handler (/v1/omni_gen/generate/{image,video} — the path the webapp uses). With dummy keys the provider call fails and the submit returns HTTP 500 after billing the wallet (the image pipeline has no refund; video refunds only Kinovi). Only the legacy polling providers (GmiCloud, Grok, Kinovi orders, WorldLabs) are worker-driven. DEV_FAKE_GENERATION (below) exists so local submits never reach a real provider.
• Uploads fail hard with dummy S3 creds: every media upload endpoint uploads to the bucket before inserting the DB row, and rust-s3 is built with fail-on-err — so the first upload returns HTTP 500. (Known seam; uploads are not yet part of the local stack.)

Fully-local generation and media (DEV_FAKE_GENERATION)

The generated secrets file enables three development-only settings (appended automatically on bootstrap re-runs for older stacks):

Env var	Effect
DEV_FAKE_GENERATION	omni_gen image/video submits skip the external provider and insert a normal pending job with a fake_… external id. A resolver thread inside storyteller-web completes each one after DEV_FAKE_GENERATION_RESOLVE_SECS (default 6s, poll every DEV_FAKE_GENERATION_POLL_SECS, default 2s) with a placeholder result copied from test_data/. Prompts containing simulate_artcraft_failure (or test_artcraft_failure) fail instead, optionally with a FrontendFailureCategory word in the prompt (e.g. simulate_artcraft_failure face_not_detected). Hard-disabled outside SERVER_ENVIRONMENT=Development
CDN_BASE_URL	Overrides the compiled-in CDN hosts in cdn_link.rs for all media URLs in API responses. Must be scheme+host only (no path) — set to http://localhost:12345 so media resolves against the backend itself
LOCAL_MEDIA_ROOT	Directory the backend serves at /media (dev-only actix-files mount), mirroring the public bucket layout: object path /media/{…} lives at {LOCAL_MEDIA_ROOT}/media/{…}. The bootstrap points it at .devstack/media/

With all three set, the full loop works offline: submit → pending job → polling (/v1/jobs/session) → success with a media_files row whose URL the backend itself serves — or a failed job with a real failure category. Credits are genuinely deducted from the seeded wallet (no refund on fake results — the demo wallet is large enough not to care).

Auth on localhost

• POST /v1/login takes {"username_or_email": "...", "password": "..."}; success returns {"success": true, "signed_session": "<jwt>"} and a session cookie.
• With the checked-in dev config (COOKIE_DOMAIN=.jungle.horse), the session cookie is issued non-Secure and host-only (the Domain attribute is never set), so plain-HTTP localhost login works as-is. The frontend additionally stores signed_session in localStorage and sends it as a session header.
• Dev-mode CORS allows any localhost/127.0.0.1 origin on any port, with credentials.
• Health endpoint for scripts/CI: GET /_status.

Build

• Compile with SQLX_OFFLINE=true (uses the checked-in .sqlx/ cache; 483 queries). Without it, the sqlx macros open a live DB connection at compile time using DATABASE_URL from the root .env. SQLX_OFFLINE has no runtime effect — ignore older notes saying not to set it when running.
• First build takes several minutes; the crate has ~370 pre-existing warnings.

Database: migrations and seed data

• 281 Diesel migrations in _database/sql/migrations/ (diesel.toml at repo root points there). Run from the repo root: diesel migration run. "Encountered unknown type for Mysql: enum" warnings are harmless. migrations_squashed/ is documentation only — not executable.
• Seed data: _database/sql/seed/sql/system_roles.sql (roles user, mod, admin) and user_badges.sql. The user role is mandatory — account creation hardcodes user_role_slug='user'. The legacy wrapper bootstrap_inserts_roles_etc.sh must run with cwd _database/sql/ and is not idempotent; the bootstrap script applies the same SQL files with idempotency guards instead.
• Demo user: created through POST /v1/create_account (no captcha, no invite code, no email-verification gate; password just needs 6+ chars). This exercises the real signup path instead of hand-rolled SQL. Gotcha: usernames like demo, admin, test, dev, artcraft are reserved (includes/binary_includes/usernames/reserved_usernames.txt) — the default demo user is localdev1. The Rust seeder (cargo run --bin dev-database-seed) exists but hard-requires a .env-secrets file and also seeds model weights, so the HTTP path is preferred.
• Demo credits: signup creates no wallet, and the webapp gates the generate button on wallet balance — so seed_demo_user also seeds an artcraft-namespace wallet with DEMO_CREDITS (default 100,000) banked credits, plus matching ledger rows. Idempotent: re-runs top the balance back up to DEMO_CREDITS but never lower it. (Raw SQL, because the only real credit-granting paths are Stripe webhooks and moderator tooling.)
• Demo gallery: seed_demo_user also seeds a handful of media_files image rows (from test_data/image/) with their objects copied under .devstack/media/, so the library isn't empty on a fresh stack. Rows mirror what a real image upload writes (media_class='image' matters — the library filters on it, and the column default 'unknown' is invisible in every tab).

Frontend: artcraft-webapp

• Nx workspace at repo-root frontend/ (npm workspaces; npm install from frontend/). The FontAwesome Pro registry token is committed in frontend/.npmrc — no manual auth step.
• Serve: npx nx dev artcraft-webapp → http://localhost:4201. No lib pre-build is needed in dev (libs resolve to TS source via the "development" export condition); production nx build does need lib builds.
• In dev the webapp already targets the local backend: src/main.tsx calls StorytellerApiHostStore.setDevelopment() under import.meta.env.DEV, pointing all API traffic at http://localhost:12345. (The adjacent comment claiming this is disabled is stale — the call is live, and it bypasses the Vite /v1 → api.storyteller.ai proxy.) So: local backend running → fully local stack; local backend not running → dev webapp is broken, not silently on prod.
• Optional: VITE_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID in frontend/apps/artcraft-webapp/.env enables the Google SSO button; email/password login needs nothing.
• Other dev ports if you run more apps: website 4200, dashboard 4202 (separate pnpm app, excluded from Nx), video-info-website 4250, genhub 4300, Tauri frontend 5173.

What still touches production (known, deliberate seams)

Cleaning these up is the next phase of the infra work; the bootstrap does not change runtime behavior:

Seam	Today
Media/CDN URLs in API responses	Closed when CDN_BASE_URL + LOCAL_MEDIA_ROOT are set (the bootstrap default): media URLs point at the backend's own /media mount. Unset, the compiled-in cdn_link.rs constants still point at the public pub-….r2.dev bucket
Media uploads	Upload endpoints push to R2/S3 before the DB insert and rust-s3 is fail-on-err — with dummy creds every upload endpoint returns HTTP 500. A local S3 (S3_COMPATIBLE_ENDPOINT_URL → MinIO) or a filesystem storage mode is the missing piece
Vite /v1 proxy in webapp/website	Hardcoded https://api.storyteller.ai (bypassed in dev by setDevelopment(), but still the fallback path)
SegmentationApi, GetCdnOrigin, API_TARGETS	Hardcoded off-store production hosts (GetCdnOrigin/Api.ts still hardcode cdn-2.fakeyou.com for pagescene/moodboard surfaces, independent of the backend's CDN_BASE_URL)
Elasticsearch-backed search	search_featured / search_session media files, weights/search, legacy tts/search fail without a local ES + elasticsearch-cli reindex (optional)

CI usage

The same bootstrap works on a fresh Ubuntu runner/container:

export MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root   # GitHub Actions' preinstalled MySQL uses password auth
./script/bootstrap/bootstrap_dev_stack.sh --yes
./script/bootstrap/run_backend_dev.sh &
./script/bootstrap/seed_demo_user.sh          # waits for /_status
./script/bootstrap/dev_stack_doctor.sh

--yes answers all prompts; --skip-frontend / --skip-rust-build / --skip-packages slice the work for focused jobs.

Verification checklist

• ./script/bootstrap/dev_stack_doctor.sh exits 0 with no FAILs.
• POST /v1/login with the demo user returns success: true plus a signed_session (done automatically by seed_demo_user.sh).
• Webapp at http://localhost:4201 can log in as localdev1, has credits in the top bar, and sees the seeded images in the library.
• A generation submit returns {"success": true, "inference_job_token": …}, shows as pending for a few seconds, then completes with a placeholder result (DEV_FAKE_GENERATION) — no external provider is contacted. A prompt containing simulate_artcraft_failure fails with a real error toast/category instead.
• Nothing hits api.storyteller.ai or the r2.dev CDN during the above (verify in the browser network tab — media URLs should point at http://localhost:12345/media/…).

Corrections to older docs

• crates/service/web/storyteller_web/CLAUDE.md: the repo-root .env is not auto-loaded by the server, and SQLX_OFFLINE=true is fine (and recommended) when running — it only affects compile-time query checking.
• _docs/dev_setup_server.md: ./script/dev_mysql_connect.sh doesn't exist — it's ./script/dev_database_connect.sh.
• diesel.toml's comment about needing an unreleased diesel CLI is stale — any current diesel_cli works.
• TESTING_INFRA_HANDOFF.md (untracked): the server env var is MYSQL_URL, not DATABASE_URL; migration count is 281; crate path is crates/service/web/storyteller_web.