Installation

System requirements

Requirement	Version
Bun	1.2.x (pinned via `packageManager`)
Node.js	20+ (recommended for tooling compatibility)
Operating system	macOS, Linux, or Windows

The monorepo pins Bun to 1.2.x. Running a different major version may cause lockfile or runtime incompatibilities. Check your version with bun --version before installing.

Installation paths

Development mode
Standalone binary

Development mode runs the full monorepo with hot reload. This is the recommended path for contributing to Slides or building on top of the source.1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/rawr-ai/slides.git
cd slides

2. Install dependencies

bun install

Bun workspaces install dependencies for all apps (apps/web, apps/server) and packages (packages/api, packages/core, packages/config) in one step.3. Configure environment variables

cp apps/server/.env.example apps/server/.env
cp apps/web/.env.example apps/web/.env

Edit apps/server/.env to set your Anthropic API key and any other values. See the Environment variables section below for the full reference.4. Start the dev servers

bun run dev

The frontend runs at http://localhost:3001 and the backend at http://localhost:3000.

The standalone binary bundles the server and all web assets into a single self-contained executable. No Node.js, Bun, or npm is required at runtime.From a pre-built archiveDownload the release archive for your platform, then:

tar -xzf slides.tar.gz
cd slides

Run with default settings:

./slides --port 4000

Run with a custom slideshow directory and AI features enabled:

./slides --data-dir /path/to/slideshows --api-key sk-ant-... --port 4000

Open the browser automatically on start:

./slides --port 4000 --open

One-time init (optional)Run --init to save your preferred defaults to ~/.config/slides/config.json and optionally install a slides launcher into your PATH:

./slides --init --data-dir /path/to/slideshows --port 4000 --api-key sk-ant-...

After init, if the launcher was installed, you can run slides from anywhere.Building the binary from source

git clone https://github.com/rawr-ai/slides.git
cd slides
bun install
cd apps/server
bun run compile:standalone

The output is written to apps/server/dist-standalone/slides.tar.gz (~23 MB). On Windows the archive is slides.zip.CLI options reference

Flag	Description	Default
`--port <n>`	Server port	`3000`
`--data-dir <path>`	Directory for slideshow JSON files	`./data/slideshows`
`--api-key <key>`	Anthropic API key for AI features	(none)
`--open`	Open browser on start	`false`
`--init`	Save defaults to config and install launcher	—
`--install-path <path>`	Custom directory for the launcher symlink	auto-detected
`--help`	Show help text	—

Directory structure

slides/
├── slides               # Executable binary
├── web/                 # Bundled web assets (must stay colocated)
└── data/slideshows/     # Default slideshow JSON files
    └── default.json

Saved defaults live in ~/.config/slides/config.json (or %APPDATA%\slides\config.json on Windows). Flags passed at runtime always take precedence over saved config.

Environment variables

Server (`apps/server/.env`)

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`PORT`	No	`3000`	Port the server listens on
`CORS_ORIGIN`	No	`http://localhost:3001`	Allowed origin for CORS requests
`DATA_DIR`	No	`./data/slideshows`	Directory from which slideshow JSON files are loaded
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	Yes (for AI)	—	Anthropic API key. Required for AI assistant features
`ANTHROPIC_MODEL`	No	`claude-sonnet-4-20250514`	Anthropic model identifier
`ANTHROPIC_MAX_TOKENS`	No	`16384`	Maximum tokens per AI response
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	No	—	Auth secret (feature not yet implemented)
`BETTER_AUTH_URL`	No	—	Auth URL (feature not yet implemented)

Web (`apps/web/.env`)

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`VITE_SERVER_URL`	No	`http://localhost:3000`	URL of the backend server. Must be a `VITE_` prefixed variable to be accessible in the browser

Never expose ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or other server secrets in the web app environment. Frontend variables must use the VITE_ prefix; all other vars remain server-side only.

Running tests

bun test

To filter tests to a specific path or pattern:

bun test --filter <path|pattern>

For example, to run only tests in the packages/core package:

bun test --filter packages/core

Building

bun run build

This runs the full TurboRepo build pipeline across all apps and packages. To force a clean build and bypass the Turbo cache:

TURBO_CACHE=0 bun run build

Type checking

bun run check-types

To isolate type errors to a single package (for example, @slides/core):

bun run check-types --filter @slides/core

Run bun run check-types, bun run build, and bun test before opening a pull request. These three commands are the local gate for CI.

Get Started

Core Features

Deployment

Architecture

System requirements

Installation paths

Environment variables

Server (`apps/server/.env`)

Web (`apps/web/.env`)

Running tests

Building

Type checking

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Features

Deployment

Architecture

​System requirements

​Installation paths

​Environment variables

​Server (apps/server/.env)

​Web (apps/web/.env)

​Running tests

​Building

​Type checking

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

System requirements

Installation paths

Environment variables

Server (`apps/server/.env`)

Web (`apps/web/.env`)

Running tests

Building

Type checking