Getting Started

This guide walks you through cloning SuperSats, installing its dependencies, and running a local development instance.

Prerequisites

Before you begin make sure you have the following installed:

A running Lightning node (or access to a hosted Lightning endpoint) is required for payment features. For local development you can use a testnet node or mock the Lightning calls.

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/bitcoin-ekasi/supersats.git
cd supersats

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Configure environment variables

Copy the example environment file and fill in your values:

cp .env.example .env

Open .env in your editor. The essential variables to set for a local run are:

# Application
APP_NAME=SuperSats
APP_URL=http://localhost:3000

# Lightning node connection
LIGHTNING_HOST=127.0.0.1
LIGHTNING_PORT=10009
LIGHTNING_MACAROON=<your-admin-macaroon-hex>
LIGHTNING_TLS_CERT_PATH=./certs/tls.cert

# Database (SQLite for local dev)
DATABASE_URL=file:./dev.db

See the Configuration page for a full reference of all available variables.

4. Run database migrations

npm run db:migrate

5. Start the development server

npm run dev

The app will be available at http://localhost:3000.

6. Verify the install

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000. You should see the SuperSats login screen. If you see any Lightning connection errors, double-check your LIGHTNING_* variables in .env.

Next steps

• Read the Architecture overview to understand how SuperSats is structured
• Configure your own deployment options in Configuration
• Browse the Changelog to see what has been built so far