Contributing

Get Dictumal running from the repo root and start contributing.

Quick Setup

Use Node 20 with nvm use || nvm install.
Run npm run bootstrap.
Use npm run bootstrap:deps when you only need dependencies and tests.
Start the app with npm run dev.

The app now lives at the repository root. Main code is in src/app, src/components, src/lib, and prisma.

What You Need

Node 20.x and npm 10+
PostgreSQL only if you run local Prisma workflows
Google OAuth credentials if you need local auth
OPENROUTER_API_KEY for AI features
DIGITALOCEAN_API_TOKEN only for deployment flows

Key Files

src/lib/db.ts - Prisma client and DB access helpers
src/lib/auth.ts - NextAuth configuration
src/lib/require-auth.ts - session guard for protected routes
src/app/api/auth/[...nextauth]/route.ts - auth route entry point
prisma/schema.prisma - data model and migrations

Useful Commands

Command	Description
`npm run bootstrap`	Full workstation setup, env pull, and checks
`npm run bootstrap:deps`	Test-only setup for fresh worktrees
`npm run workstation:sync`	After-pull update routine
`npm run local-db:up`	Start the standardized local Postgres container
`npm run db:repair:local`	Apply and verify local migrations
`npm run db:doctor:local`	Check local schema and migration health
`npm test`	Run the Vitest suite
`npm run build`	Build the production app

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string
`AUTH_URL`	Base URL used by NextAuth v5
`AUTH_SECRET`	Session signing secret used by NextAuth v5
`GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID` / `GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET`	Google OAuth client credentials
`OPENROUTER_API_KEY`	AI provider key
`DIGITALOCEAN_API_TOKEN`	Required only for deployment and droplet workflows