Installation

This guide covers setting up Pocket Money for local development.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+

Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/ewels/pocket-money.git
cd pocket-money
npm install

Configure Environment

Create the local secrets file:

cp .dev.vars.example .dev.vars

Edit .dev.vars and set a secure random string for SESSION_SECRET:

SESSION_SECRET=your-secure-random-string-here

You can generate a secure secret with:

openssl rand -base64 32

Set Up Database

Copy the wrangler config template:

cp wrangler.toml.example wrangler.toml

For local development, you can use a placeholder database ID. The local D1 emulator creates a SQLite database in .wrangler/ automatically:

[[d1_databases]]
binding = "DB"
database_name = "pocket-money-db"
database_id = "local-dev-placeholder"

No Cloudflare Account Required

Local development uses Wrangler's built-in D1 emulator, which stores data in a local SQLite database. You don't need a Cloudflare account until you're ready to deploy.

Run Migrations

Apply the database schema locally:

npm run db:migrate

This runs migrations against your local SQLite database (not Cloudflare).

Start Development Server

npm run dev

The app will be available at http://localhost:5173.

Next Steps

Ready to deploy? See the Deployment Guide for instructions on setting up Cloudflare Pages and creating a production D1 database.