​

System requirements

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Universal requirements

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Node.js

# Install nvm (if not already installed)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash

# Install and use the correct Node version
nvm install
nvm use

# Verify installation
node --version  # Should show v22.12.0 or higher

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install node@22

# Ubuntu/Debian
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Windows (Chocolatey)
choco install nodejs --version=22.12.0

​

npm

# Verify npm version
npm --version  # Should show 10.x.x

# Update npm if needed
npm install -g npm@10

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Git

# Verify installation
git --version  # Any recent version is fine

# Install if needed
# macOS: Included with Xcode Command Line Tools
xcode-select --install

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install git

# Windows: Download from git-scm.com

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Application-specific requirements

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Browser extension

cd apps/browser
npm run build:chrome
# Load unpacked extension from build/

cd apps/browser
npm run build:firefox
# Load temporary add-on from build/

cd apps/browser
npm run build:safari
# Convert to Safari extension using Xcode

• Memory: 8 GB RAM minimum (builds use --max-old-space-size=8192)
• Disk space: ~2 GB for dependencies and build artifacts

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Desktop application

# Install build tools
npm install --global windows-build-tools

# Or install Visual Studio with C++ workload
# Download from visualstudio.microsoft.com

# Install Xcode Command Line Tools
xcode-select --install

# Install Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# For building native autofill module
cd apps/desktop/desktop_native
./autofill_provider/build.sh

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gcc gcc-c++ make pkg-config openssl-devel

# Install Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

• Memory: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended
• Disk space: ~3 GB for dependencies and build artifacts

​

Web vault

• Node.js: 22.12.0+ (see universal requirements)
• npm: 10.x (see universal requirements)
• Memory: 4 GB RAM minimum (webpack dev server)
• Disk space: ~1.5 GB for dependencies

• Chrome/Firefox/Safari/Edge (latest versions)
• Modern browser with ES2016+ support

cd apps/web
npm run build:oss:watch  # Development server
# Serves at http://localhost:8080

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Command-line interface

• Node.js: 22.12.0+ for development
• For distribution: Packaged binaries have no Node.js requirement

cd apps/cli
npm run build:oss
node build/bw.js --help

# Windows
npm run dist:oss:win  # Creates dist/oss/windows/bw.exe

# macOS (x64)
npm run dist:oss:mac  # Creates dist/oss/macos/bw

# macOS (ARM64)
npm run dist:oss:mac-arm64

# Linux (x64)
npm run dist:oss:lin  # Creates dist/oss/linux/bw

# Linux (ARM64)
npm run dist:oss:lin-arm64

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Development tools

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Recommended

• Visual Studio Code (recommended) - Repository includes VS Code configuration
  • Extensions: ESLint, Prettier, Angular Language Service
  • Workspace file: clients.code-workspace

• Git client - Command line or GUI (GitKraken, GitHub Desktop, etc.)

• Nx Console - VS Code extension for running Nx commands
• concurrently - Included in devDependencies for parallel builds

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Optional

• For testing self-hosted web vault deployments
• Not required for development

• Homebrew (macOS/Linux) - For testing CLI installation
• Chocolatey (Windows) - For testing CLI installation
• Snap (Linux) - For testing snap package

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System resources

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Minimum requirements

• CPU: Dual-core processor
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Disk: 10 GB free space (for all apps + dependencies)
• Internet: Required for downloading dependencies

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Recommended

• CPU: Quad-core processor or better
• Memory: 16 GB RAM (for running multiple apps simultaneously)
• Disk: 20 GB free space (SSD recommended for faster builds)
• Internet: Broadband connection

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Verification

# Check Node.js version
node --version
# Expected: v22.12.0 or higher

# Check npm version
npm --version
# Expected: 10.x.x

# Check Git
git --version
# Expected: Any recent version

# For desktop development - check Rust (if installed)
rustc --version
# Expected: 1.70.0 or higher

# Check Python (for node-gyp on Windows)
python --version
# Expected: 3.x.x

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Troubleshooting

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Node version issues

# Using nvm (recommended)
nvm install 22
nvm use 22

# Verify
node --version

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Native module build errors

# Rebuild native modules
cd apps/desktop
npm run postinstall

# Or rebuild manually
npx electron-rebuild

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Memory errors during build

# Increase Node.js memory limit (already set in scripts)
# The browser build uses: --max-old-space-size=8192
# If still failing, close other applications

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Next steps