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Set up freeCodeCamp locally using Docker

Follow these guidelines for getting freeCodeCamp locally on your system. This is highly recommended if you want to be contributing regularly.

Some of the contribution workflows, like previewing pages for the guide or the coding challenges, debugging and fixing bugs in codebase, require you to have freeCodeCamp running locally.

This guide is new as of 8 March 2019 and we would appreciate if you can use it and let us know how well (or not) it worked for you. You can let us know in our contributor's chat room.

This new setup procedure should result in fewer or no errors during the setup process and make it easier for you. We use Docker to install and run many of the software dependencies which means that you don't have to install things like MongoDB or MailHog on your computer or worry about getting those versions right.

Fork the repository on GitHub

'Forking' is a step where you get your own copy of freeCodeCamp's main repository (a.k.a repo) on GitHub.

This is essential, because this way you are able to work on your copy of freeCodeCamp on GitHub, or download it for working locally. Later, you will be able to request changes to be pulled into the main repository via a pull request.

ProTip: The main repository at https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp is often referred to as upstream repository. Your fork at https://github.com/YOUR_USER_NAME/freeCodeCamp is often referred to as origin repository.

Follow these steps to fork the https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp repository:

  1. Go to the freeCodeCamp repository on GitHub: https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp
  2. Click the "Fork" Button in the upper right hand corner of the interface (More Details Here)
  3. After the repository has been forked, you will be taken to your copy of the freeCodeCamp at https://github.com/YOUR_USER_NAME/freeCodeCamp

GIF - How to fork freeCodeCamp on GitHub

Preparing the development environment

Once you have the prerequisites installed, you need to prepare your development environment. This is common for many development workflows, and you will need to do this only once.

Follow these steps to get your development environment ready:

  1. Install Git or your favorite Git client, if you haven't already. Update to the latest version, the one that came bundled with your OS may be outdated.

  2. (Optional but recommended) Setup an SSH Key for GitHub.

  3. Install a code editor of your choice.

    We highly recommend using VS Code or Atom. These are some great free and open source code editors.

  4. Setup linting for your code editor.

    You should have ESLint running in your editor, and it will highlight anything doesn't conform to freeCodeCamp's JavaScript Style Guide.

    Please do not ignore any linting errors. They are meant to help you and to ensure a clean and simple code base.

Clone your copy of freeCodeCamp

'Cloning' is a step where you download a copy of a repository that is either owned by you or someone else from a remote location. In your case, this remote location is your fork of freeCodeCamp's repository, that should be available at https://github.com/YOUR_USER_NAME/freeCodeCamp.

Run these commands on your local machine:

  1. Open a Terminal / Command Prompt / Bash Shell in your projects directory

    i.e.: /yourprojectdirectory/

  2. Clone your fork of freeCodeCamp, replacing YOUR_USER_NAME with your GitHub Username

    git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USER_NAME/freeCodeCamp.git

This will download the entire freeCodeCamp repository to your projects directory.

Setup a upstream to the main repository

Now that you have downloaded a copy of your fork, you will need to setup an upstream.

As mentioned earlier, the main repository at https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp is often referred to as upstream repository. Your fork at https://github.com/YOUR_USER_NAME/freeCodeCamp is often referred to as origin repository.

You need to point your local clone to the upstream in addition to the origin. This is so that you can sync changes from the main repository. This way you do not have to go through forking and cloning again and again.

  1. Change directory to the new freeCodeCamp directory:

    cd freeCodeCamp

  2. Add a remote to the main freeCodeCamp repository:

    git remote add upstream https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp.git

  3. Check the configuration looks good to you:

        git remote -v

    The output should be something like below:

        origin    https://github.com/YOUR_USER_NAME/freeCodeCamp.git (fetch)
    origin    https://github.com/YOUR_USER_NAME/freeCodeCamp.git (push)
    upstream    https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp.git (fetch)
    upstream    https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp.git (push)

Running freeCodeCamp locally on your machine

Now that you have a local copy of freeCodeCamp, you can follow these instructions to get it running locally. This will help you to:

  • Preview edits to pages as it would appear on the learning platform.
  • Work on UI related issues and enhancements.
  • Debug and fix issues in the application servers and client apps.

You can skip running freeCodeCamp locally, if you are just editing files, doing a rebase or resolving merge conflicts. You can always return to this part of the instructions later.

Skip running freeCodeCamp locally

Installing prerequisites

Start by installing the prerequisite software:

Prerequisite Version Notes
Docker CE Stable
Node.js 10.x LTS Schedule
npm (comes bundled with Node) 6.x Does not have LTS releases, we use the version bundled with Node LTS

Important:

We highly recommend updating to the latest stable releases a.k.a Long Term Support (LTS) versions of the above. If Node.js is already installed on your machine, run the following commands to validate the versions:

node -v
npm -v

If you have a different version, please install the recommended version. We can support installation issues for recommended versions only.

Note to Windows users:

Make sure the command line tool (Cmd, PowerShell or Git Bash for Windows, etc.) you use has the correct user privileges. If possible, you should launch the tool with Administrator's privilege. On windows, you should be able to launch a tool by right clicking it and selecting Launch as an Administrator.

I am having issues with installing the recommended prerequisites. What should I do?

We regularly develop on popular and latest operating systems like macOS 10.12 or later, Ubuntu 16.04 or later and Windows 10. Its recommended to lookup your specific issue on resources like: Google, Stack Overflow or Stack Exchange. Chances are that someone has faced the same issue and there is already an answer to your specific query.

If you are on a different OS, and/or are still running into issues, reach out to contributors community on our public forum or the contributor's chat room.

Please avoid creating GitHub issues for pre-requisite software and use the forum and chat room instead.

Installing dependencies

First you need to add the private environment variables (API Keys). You only need to do this one time:

# Create a copy of the "sample.env" and name it as ".env".
# Populate it with the necessary API keys and secrets:

# macOS / Linux
cp sample.env .env

# Windows
copy sample.env .env

The keys are not required to be changed, to run the app locally. You can leave the default values from the sample.env as is. But if you want to use more services you'll have to get your own API keys for those services and edit those entries accordingly in the .env file.

If the Docker installation instructions told you to use Docker Toolbox (applies to older versions of macOS and Windows), you need to change DOCKER_HOST_LOCATION in your .env file var to the output from the docker-machine ip command. If you use any Docker supported flavor of Linux or if you use Docker Desktop (new versions of macOS and Windows 10) you can leave DOCKER_HOST_LOCATION to the default value.

Then you have to bootstrap the docker images just one time to prepare them for running.

npm run docker:init
npm run docker:install
npm run docker:seed

Each of the above commands will take a little time to complete and you should wait for each to complete before running the next command.

Next you need to install a few npm packages outside of docker. You can skip this step if you are only running the app locally and will not use git.

npm install --ignore-scripts

All of the above needs to be run only the first time you set up the local dev environment.

Start the freeCodeCamp client application and API server

You can now start up the API server and the client applications.

npm run docker:develop

This single command will start all the services including the API server and the client application available for you to work on. It will also start the supporting services which include mongodb and the mail testing server (MailHog).

Now open a web browser and visit http://localhost:8000. If the app loads, congratulations – you're all set.

NOTE: if you changed the value of DOCKER_HOST_LOCATION in your .env file, use that instead of localhost.

ProTip:

The API Server serves APIs at http://localhost:3000 The Gatsby app serves the client application at http://localhost:8000

Meaning, if you visit http://localhost:3000/explorer you should see the APIs that we have.

Congratulations 🎉! You now have a copy of freeCodeCamp's entire learning platform running on your local machine.

When you are done, you can stop it from running by pressing Ctrl+C. Every time you want to start the local dev environment again you just need to run:

npm run docker:develop

How to Sign in when working locally

Your local setup automatically populates a local user in the database. Clicking the sign in button will automatically authenticate you into the local application.

However, accessing the user portfolio page is a little tricky. In development, Gatsby takes over serving the client side pages and hence you will get a 404 page for the user portfolio when working locally.

Simply clicking the Preview Custom 404 Page button will forward you to the correct page.

Image - How to sign in when working locally

Quick commands reference when working locally

Here is a quick reference to a list of commands that you may need locally from time to time:

Making changes to your clone of freeCodeCamp locally

Next, you can make changes to files, and commit your changes.

Follow these steps:

  1. Check that you are on the master branch

    git status

    You should get an output like this:

    On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.

nothing to commit, working directory clean

    If you are not on master or your working directory is not clean, resolve any outstanding files/commits and checkout master:

    git checkout master

  2. Next, you would want to sync the lastest changes for master branch from the main repository of freeCodeCamp.

    Note: If you have any outstanding pull-request that you made from the master branch of your fork previously, you will lose them. You should get it merged by a moderator, prior following this. To avoid this, you should always work on a branch.

    This step will sync the latest changes from the main repository of freeCodeCamp. It is important that you rebase as often as possible, to avoid conflicts later.

    git fetch upstream

    Now, you want to do a hard reset with the copy on the freeCodeCamp master:

    git reset --hard upstream/master

    Push this branch back to your origin, to have a clean history on your fork on GitHub:

    git push origin master --force

  3. Next, you will have to create a fresh new branch.

    Working on a separate branch for every single issue, helps you keep your local work copy clean. You should never work on the master. This will soil your copy of freeCodeCamp and you may have to start over with a fresh clone or fork.

    Check that you are on master as explained previously, and branch off from there:

    git checkout -b fix/update-guide-for-xyz

    Your branch name should start with a fix/, feat/, etc. Avoid, using issue no.s in branches. Keep them short, meaningful and unique.

    Some examples of good branch names are:

    fix/update-challenges-for-react
fix/update-guide-for-html-css
fix/platform-bug-sign-in-issues
feat/add-guide-article-for-javascript
translate/add-spanish-basic-html

  4. Next, you can work on the editing pages and working on the code in your favorite text editor.

  5. Once you are happy with the changes you should optionally run freeCodeCamp locally to preview the changes.

  6. Make sure you fix any errors, and check the formatting of your changes. We have style guide for the Guide articles and Coding challenges.

  7. Next, check and confirm the files you are updating

    git status

    This should show a list of unstaged files that you have edited.

    On branch feat/documentation
Your branch is up to date with 'upstream/feat/documentation'.

Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add/rm <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

    modified:   CONTRIBUTING.md
    modified:   docs/README.md
    modified:   docs/how-to-setup-freecodecamp-locally.md
    modified:   docs/how-to-work-on-guide-articles.md
...

  8. Stage the changes and make a commit.

    In this step you should only mark files that you have edited, or added. You can perform a reset, and resolve files that you did not intend to change.

    git add path/to/my/changed/file.ext

    Or, alternatively you can add all the unstaged files to the staging area:

    git add .

    Only the files that were moved to the staging area will be added when you make a commit.

    git status

    Output:

    On branch feat/documentation
Your branch is up to date with 'upstream/feat/documentation'.

Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)

    modified:   CONTRIBUTING.md
    modified:   docs/README.md
    modified:   docs/how-to-setup-freecodecamp-locally.md
    modified:   docs/how-to-work-on-guide-articles.md

    Now, you can commit your changes with a short message like so:

    git commit -m "fix: my short commit message"

    Some examples:

    fix: update guide article for Java - for loop
feat: add guide article for alexa skills

    Optional:

    We highly recommend making a conventional commit message. This is a good practice that you will see on some of the popular Open Source repositories. As a developer, this encourages you to follow standard practices.

    Some examples of conventional commit messages are:

    fix: update HTML guide article
fix: update build scripts for Travis-CI
feat: add article for JavaScript hoisting
docs: update contributing guidelines

    Keep these short, not more than 50 characters. You can always add additional information in the description of the commit message.

    This does not take any additional time than an unconventional message like 'update file' or 'add index.md'

    You can learn more about why you should use conventional commits here.

  9. If you realise that you need to edit a file or update the commit message after making a commit you can do so after editing the files with:

    git commit --amend

    This will open up a default text editor like nano or vi where you can edit the commit message title and add/edit description.

  10. Next, you can push your changes to your fork.

    git push origin branch/name-here

Proposing a Pull Request (PR)

  1. Once the edits have been committed, you will be prompted to create a pull request on your fork's GitHub Page.

    Image - Compare pull request prompt on GitHub

  2. By default, all pull requests should be against the freeCodeCamp main repo, master branch.

    Make sure that your Base Fork is set to freeCodeCamp/freeCodeCamp when raising a Pull Request.

    Image - Comparing forks when making a pull request

  3. Submit the pull request from your branch to freeCodeCamp's master branch.

  4. In the body of your PR include a more detailed summary of the changes you made and why.

    • You will be presented with a pull request template. This is a checklist that you should have followed before opening the pull request.

    • Fill in the details as they seem fit you. This information will be reviewed and decide whether or not, your pull request is going to be accepted.

    • If the PR is meant to fix an existing bug/issue then, at the end of your PR's description, append the keyword closes and #xxxx (where xxxx is the issue number). Example: closes #1337. This tells GitHub to automatically close the existing issue, if the PR is accepted and merged.

  5. Indicate if you have tested on a local copy of the site or not.

    This is very important when you are making changes that are not copy editing markdown files. For example, changes to CSS or JavaScript code, etc.

Getting Help

If you are stuck, and need help, let us know by asking in the 'Contributors' category on our forum or the Contributors chat room on Gitter.

There might be an error in the console of your browser or in Bash / Terminal / Command Line that will help identify the problem.

Troubleshooting

If the app launches but you are encountering errors with the UI itself, for example if fonts are not being loaded or if the code editor is not displaying properly, you may try the following troubleshooting steps at least once:

# We use a mono repo and have multiple components (server, client, tools, plugins, etc.)
# Use this command to clean up all dependencies in all of the components
npm run clean

# Reinstall npm packages
npm install

# Bootstrap the project
npm run bootstrap

# Seed the database
npm run seed

# Restart the application
npm run develop