Building from Source¶

Set up a development environment for Dial Code.

Prerequisites¶

Node.js¶

Requires Node.js 20 or higher:

node --version
# v20.x.x or higher

Install via nvm:

nvm install 20
nvm use 20

Git¶

git --version

Clone and Install¶

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/neul-labs/dial-coder.git
cd dial-coder

# Install dependencies
npm install

Build¶

Full Build¶

npm run build

Builds all packages:

packages/cli
packages/core
packages/vscode-ide-companion

Build Specific Package¶

npm run build --workspace=packages/cli
npm run build --workspace=packages/core

Run from Source¶

Development Mode¶

npm start

With Debug Output¶

DEBUG=1 npm start

Debug with Chrome DevTools¶

npm run debug

Then open chrome://inspect in Chrome.

Testing¶

Unit Tests¶

npm run test

Watch Mode¶

npm run test -- --watch

Specific Package¶

npm run test --workspace=packages/cli

Integration Tests¶

npm run test:e2e

Requires API keys in environment.

Code Quality¶

Linting¶

npm run lint        # Check for issues
npm run lint:fix    # Auto-fix issues

Formatting¶

npm run format      # Format all files

Type Checking¶

npm run typecheck

All Checks (Preflight)¶

npm run preflight

Run this before submitting PRs.

Development Scripts¶

Script	Description
`npm start`	Run from source
`npm run build`	Build all packages
`npm run test`	Run unit tests
`npm run test:e2e`	Run integration tests
`npm run lint`	Check linting
`npm run lint:fix`	Fix lint issues
`npm run format`	Format code
`npm run typecheck`	Check types
`npm run preflight`	Run all checks
`npm run debug`	Run with debugger

Project Structure¶

dial-coder/
├── packages/
│   ├── cli/           # Terminal interface
│   │   ├── src/
│   │   ├── package.json
│   │   └── tsconfig.json
│   ├── core/          # Backend engine
│   │   ├── src/
│   │   ├── package.json
│   │   └── tsconfig.json
│   └── ...
├── package.json       # Root package
├── tsconfig.json      # Root TS config
└── eslint.config.js   # ESLint config

Workspace Commands¶

This is a monorepo using npm workspaces.

Run in All Packages¶

npm run build --workspaces
npm run test --workspaces

Run in Specific Package¶

npm run test --workspace=packages/core

IDE Setup¶

VS Code¶

Recommended extensions:

ESLint
Prettier
TypeScript

Settings:

{
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
}

WebStorm / IntelliJ¶

Enable ESLint integration
Enable Prettier integration
Configure Node.js interpreter

Common Issues¶

"Module not found"¶

Run build first:

npm run build

Type Errors¶

Ensure all packages are built:

npm run build
npm run typecheck

Permission Errors¶

On Linux/macOS:

sudo npm install -g .
# Or configure npm prefix
npm config set prefix ~/.npm-global

Environment Variables¶

For development:

export DEBUG=1              # Enable debug output
export DEV=true             # Development mode
export VERBOSE=true         # Verbose test output

Next Steps¶

Architecture - System design
Contributing - PR guidelines