---
title: Local Development
description: "A guide on how to run useSend’s codebase locally"
icon: code
---

## Introduction

useSend's codebase is fully [open-source on github](https://github.com/usesend/usesend)

Here is the codebase structure

```
apps
├── docs
├── marketing
├── web
packages
├── eslint-config
├── sdk
├── tailwind-config
├── typescript-config
├── ui
```

The `apps` directory contains the code for:

- `web`: Code for our dashboard and email infra

- `marketing`: The code for the landing page of useSend

- `docs`: The documentation that you are currently reading.

The `packages` directory contains the code for:

- `eslint-config` package contains shared ESLint configuration settings

- `sdk` package contains TypeScript SDK for useSend REST API

- `tailwind-config` This package contains a shared Tailwind CSS configuration.

- `typescript-config` This package contains a shared typescript configuration

- `ui` This package is a collection of reusable UI components like buttons, badges, etc

## Running useSend locally

To run useSend locally, you will need to setup the following:

- [AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/) Free tier account will work.

- [Cloudflare](https://www.cloudflare.com/) Free tier account will work.

- [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/) Recommended but not mandatory

## Fork and Clone the repo

<Steps>
  <Step title="Fork the repo">
    Click on the fork button on [GitHub](https://github.com/usesend/usesend) to fork the repo
  </Step>
  <Step title="Clone the repo">
  Once the repo is forked you can clone it on your local machine using:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/your-username/usesend.git
```

  </Step>
</Steps>

## Install Dependencies

<Steps>
<Step>
```bash
corepack enable
```
</Step>

<Step>
```bash
pnpm install
```
</Step>
</Steps>

## Setup environment variables:

<Steps>
    <Step title="Copy the env.example file into .env">
    ```bash
     cp .env.example .env
     ```
  </Step>
  <Step title="Nextauth secret">
  Use the following command to generate a key and add it under ```NEXTAUTH_SECRET```

```bash
openssl rand -base64 32
```

  </Step>
  <Step title="Create symlink for Next.js">
  Create a symlink so that Next.js can access the root `.env` file:

```bash
ln -s ../../.env apps/web/.env
```

  </Step>
  <Step title="Setup GitHub Oauth (optional)">
  <Note>
    You don't need this setup if you have `FROM_EMAIL` set in your environment
    variables. for development email link will logged in the console.
  </Note>

Next, [create a new GitHub App](https://github.com/settings/applications/new). This will allow you to sign in to useSend with your GitHub account.

Add the homepage as:

```
http://localhost:3000/login
```

and callback URL as:

```
http://localhost:3000/api/auth/callback/github
```

Once the app is added you can add the Client ID under `GITHUB_ID`and CLIENT SECRET under `GITHUB_SECRET`

  </Step>
  <Step title="Setup AWS credentials (Optional)">

<Note>
  You don't need this setup if you are using the local-sen-sns image. But email
  will not be sent out.
</Note>

Next, we need to add in the [AWS credentials](https://docs.usesend.com/get-started/create-aws-credentials). Follow the detailed guide to get the AWS credentials with accurate permissions and add them in:

```
AWS_ACCESS_KEY=<access-key-id>
AWS_SECRET_KEY=<secret-access-key>
```

  </Step>
</Steps>

## Running useSend locally

We are using a local Postgresql server and a local Redis server. But if you don't have docker you can also manually set these up.

### Option 1: Using Docker Recommended

<Steps>
<Step title="Start the dashboard">
```bash
pnpm d
```
</Step>
<Step title="Dashboard and Landing page will start running">
Dashboard will be started on
```bash
http://localhost:3000
```
Landing page will be started on

```bash
http://localhost:3001
```

</Step>
<Step title="Once you login with GitHub you will be prompted with SES settings. You will need to run cloudflare tunnel to add the callback URL">
Run the following command to get the URL. Here is the more detailed guide by [cloudflare](https://developers.cloudflare.com/pages/how-to/preview-with-cloudflare-tunnel/)
```bash
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3000
```

You can paste the URL provided by cloudflare in the Callback URL section

</Step>
</Steps>

### Option 2: Using your own database or hosted database

<Steps>
<Step title="Set up your PostgreSQL and Redis database in Environment Variables">
```bash
DATABASE_URL=""
REDIS_URL=""
```
</Step>
<Step title="Migrate the database">
```bash
pnpm db:migrate-dev
```
</Step>
<Step title="Start the development server">
```bash
pnpm dev
```
</Step>
<Step title="Once you login with GitHub you will be prompted with SES settings. You will need to run cloudflare tunnel to add the callback URL">
Run the following command to get the URL. Here is the more detailed guide by [cloudflare](https://developers.cloudflare.com/pages/how-to/preview-with-cloudflare-tunnel/)
```bash
cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3000
```

You can paste the URL provided by cloudflare in the Callback URL section

</Step>
</Steps>

## Run documentation

To run the documentation run the following command:

```bash
pnpm dev:docs
```
