Run from source

By the end of this page you have the Kanesh API and Studio running natively on your machine, with Studio reloading as you edit.

Requirements

Tool	Version	Where it is defined
Go	1.27.3	`api/go.mod`
Node.js	20.19 or newer	`studio/package.json` (`engines`)
pnpm	12.8.1	`studio/package.json` (`packageManager`)
Git	any recent version

Note: Use the exact Go version from api/go.mod. If you use corepack, run corepack enable and pnpm picks up the pinned version automatically.

Check your tools:

go version        # go1.27.3
node --version    # v20.19.0 or newer
pnpm --version    # 12.8.1

1. Clone and install Studio dependencies

git clone https://github.com/kaneshdev/kanesh.git
cd kanesh/studio
pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
cd ..

2. Start API and Studio together

node docs/scripts/dev.js

The launcher builds the API, waits until it is live, then starts Studio with an API proxy. Ctrl+C stops both.

Service	Default URL	Change with
Studio	`http://127.0.0.1:5173`	`STUDIO_PORT`
API	`http://127.0.0.1:8080`	`PORT`

With no database settings, data is stored in SQLite at api/.data/kanesh.db. Existing data is kept between runs.

Note: The launcher does not read .env files. Export variables in your shell first, for example export MCP_ENABLED=true.

3. Claim the installation

Open http://127.0.0.1:5173 and paste the single-use token from api/.data/claim-token, or set ADMIN_EMAIL and ADMIN_PASSWORD before the first start.

Run the two services separately

API, from api/:

nice -n 10 go run -p 4 -tags=nomsgpack ./cmd/kanesh

Studio, from studio/ in another terminal:

pnpm dev

Restart the API after backend changes; Studio changes reload instantly.

Troubleshooting

Port already in use: the launcher stops instead of killing other processes. Free the port or set PORT / STUDIO_PORT.
Wrong Go version: errors at build time usually mean an older toolchain. Install Go 1.27.3.
pnpm version mismatch: run corepack enable or install pnpm 12.8.1.