Run the restaurant locally

Open every terminal where the commands below expect it: inside food-studio-full-stack for the full stack, or next to the app's folder for a single-app package.

Start the API first: both frontends read all of their data from it.

Start the API

1. 01

   Install and configure

   .env.example works as it is for local development: SQLite on port 8000.

   TerminalCopy

   corepack enable
   cd back-end
   yarn install
   cp .env.example .env

   Watch step0:09

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step
2. 02

   Create the database

   yarn seed creates database.sqlite, its tables and the demo restaurant: eight categories, 64 dishes with their pictures, the combo, four kitchens, the staff, and six weeks of orders, reviews and reward points. Running it again adds only what is missing.

   Terminalin back-endCopy

   yarn seed

   I've done this step
3. 03

   Start the server

   Terminalin back-endCopy

   yarn dev

   Expected result: localhost:8000/api/healthLocal answers {"success":true,"data":{"status":"ok","database":"up"},"message":""}.

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step

Start the API

1. 01

   Install and configure

   .env.example works as it is for local development: SQLite on port 8000.

   TerminalCopy

   corepack enable
   cd food-studio-backend
   yarn install
   cp .env.example .env

   Watch step0:09

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step
2. 02

   Create the database

   yarn seed creates database.sqlite, its tables and the demo restaurant: eight categories, 64 dishes with their pictures, the combo, four kitchens, the staff, and six weeks of orders, reviews and reward points. Running it again adds only what is missing.

   Terminalin food-studio-backendCopy

   yarn seed

   I've done this step
3. 03

   Start the server

   Terminalin food-studio-backendCopy

   yarn dev

   Expected result: localhost:8000/api/healthLocal answers {"success":true,"data":{"status":"ok","database":"up"},"message":""}.

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step

Start the ordering website

In a second terminal:

1. 01

   Install and configure

   The copied .env points the website at the API on port 8000.

   TerminalCopy

   cd storefront
   yarn install
   cp .env.example .env

   Watch step0:07

   I've done this step
2. 02

   Start it

   Terminalin storefrontCopy

   yarn dev

   Expected result: localhost:3030Local opens the website in English with the demo menu; Arabic is at /ar.

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step

Start the ordering website

The API is not part of this package. Start it first; the copied .env expects it at http://localhost:8000/api.

1. 01

   Install and configure

   If your API runs somewhere else, set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL in .env to its address, including /api.

   TerminalCopy

   corepack enable
   cd food-studio-website
   yarn install
   cp .env.example .env

   Watch step0:07

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step
2. 02

   Start it

   Terminalin food-studio-websiteCopy

   yarn dev

   Expected result: localhost:3030Local opens the website with the menu from your API; Arabic is at /ar.

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step

Start the staff dashboard

In a third terminal:

1. 01

   Install and configure

   The copied .env points the dashboard at the API and its live notifications on port 8000.

   TerminalCopy

   cd admin-dashboard
   yarn install
   cp .env.example .env

   Watch step0:07

   I've done this step
2. 02

   Start it and sign in

   Terminalin admin-dashboardCopy

   yarn dev

   Expected result: localhost:3031Local opens the sign-in form. Sign in with owner@foodstudio.example and the password FoodDemo2026!.

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step

Start the staff dashboard

The API is not part of this package. Start it first; the copied .env expects it at http://localhost:8000/api.

1. 01

   Install and configure

   If your API runs somewhere else, set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL (with /api) and NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBSOCKET_BASE_URL (without it) in .env to its address.

   TerminalCopy

   corepack enable
   cd food-studio-staff-dashboard
   yarn install
   cp .env.example .env

   Watch step0:07

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step
2. 02

   Start it and sign in

   Terminalin food-studio-staff-dashboardCopy

   yarn dev

   Expected result: localhost:3031Local opens the sign-in form. Sign in with the owner account owner@foodstudio.example and the password FoodDemo2026!, which a seeded API accepts.

   Having trouble?

   I've done this step

Production build

The same folders, built once and then started. First set the API's .env for production: with NODE_ENV=production the API creates no tables on start, and it refuses to start while JWT_SECRET is empty or still the example value, or while CORS_ORIGIN is empty.

NODE_ENV=production
JWT_SECRET=paste-the-generated-secret-here
CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:3030,http://localhost:3031
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3031
STOREFRONT_URL=http://localhost:3030

Generate the secret with node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(48).toString('hex'))". Then, in the API's folder, build it, create its tables once, and start it. yarn seed:prod adds the demo restaurant and its accounts; yarn db:sync:prod in its place creates empty tables with no accounts.

yarn build
yarn seed:prod
yarn start:prod

• Going live

Production build of the frontends

In each frontend's folder, build once and start. The website serves on 3030 and the dashboard on 3031.

yarn build
yarn start

The frontends compile their .env in at build time, so run yarn build again after changing it. Before you deploy anywhere public, read the going live checklist.

• Going live

Start over with fresh demo data

Stop the API, then delete the database file and seed it again, in the API's folder. This deletes everything you created.

rm -f database.sqlite* && yarn seed

In PowerShell:

Remove-Item database.sqlite*; yarn seed

Next

• Set your environment variables
• Run it with Docker instead
• Fix a setup problem