Getting Started
Scaffold a full-stack app, run it locally, and deploy to production.
This page takes you from nothing to a running app: install one tool, run one command,
and you'll have a complete application (sign-in, billing, teams, admin, docs) working
locally, with production one more command away. If some of the terms along the way are
new to you, that's fine; each is explained where it first appears, and the defaults are
safe to trust.
Prerequisites
1. Install the CLI
npm install -g vibecarbon
Installing globally puts the vibecarbon command on your PATH, so every command below runs natively: no npx prefix needed.
2. Create Your Project
vibecarbon create my-app
This scaffolds a complete full-stack application. You'll be prompted for an admin email and password. These become your first sign-in credentials.
Behind the scenes, create generates secure secrets, copies the template, installs dependencies, and initializes a git repository. When it finishes you'll have a complete project in the my-app/ directory, ready for local development.
What's Included
| Category |
Features |
| Auth |
Email/password, magic links, OAuth (Google, GitHub, Microsoft, Apple, Discord), MFA |
| Billing |
Multi-provider (Stripe, Paddle, Polar) subscriptions, checkout, portal, plan gating (features unlock by plan) |
| Admin |
Super admin panel, user/org management, impersonation, notifications, jobs, contact, newsletter |
| Content |
MDX blog, changelog, docs (with search), legal pages (privacy, terms) |
| Engagement |
Contact form, newsletter (double opt-in), analytics (Plausible) |
| Languages |
Internationalized throughout. English ships; add more with vibecarbon configure globalization |
| Infrastructure |
File uploads, background jobs (scheduled inside the database via pg_cron), onboarding wizard, rate limiting |
3. Start Developing
cd my-app
vibecarbon up
This single command boots your entire development environment:
- Starts Docker services: PostgreSQL, Supabase (Auth, REST, Realtime, Storage, Studio), and Traefik reverse proxy
- Runs database migrations: creates tables, security policies, and your admin user
- Launches dev servers: Hono API on port 3000 and Vite on port 5173 with hot reloading
Open http://app.localhost and sign in with the credentials you chose during creation. You'll be guided through onboarding to set up your profile, create an organization, and choose a plan.
Documentation visibility
Your admin account is a super_admin, and Admin → Settings carries two toggles for the documentation surfaces this project ships:
- User Docs: the guides at
/docs, plus their links in the navigation, footer, pricing, and dashboard.
- API Docs: the reference at
/api/docs and the spec at /api/openapi.json, enforced server-side rather than merely hidden.
Both default to on. Turn one off and that surface stops serving, and every link to it disappears from the app.
Before deploying, configure DOMAIN in .env.local to match your production domain.
4. Deploy to Production
Deploying on a single Docker Compose server is free. Advanced deploy modes require a license key. Vibecarbon has three tiers:
| Tier |
Price |
Who it's for |
| Graphite |
Free |
Everyone: create projects, develop locally, deploy production on a single server, set up CI/CD, use every add-on |
| Fullerene |
$149 one-time (retail $299) |
Advanced deploy modes (Compose HA, Kubernetes, Kubernetes HA) and Flux GitOps on them, for your own products |
| Agency |
Contact us |
Deploy for clients and enterprise, white-label or resell |
If you're deploying single-server Docker Compose, skip straight to deploy; no license needed. Advanced modes need a Fullerene license; activate it first:
vibecarbon activate <your-key>
vibecarbon deploy
The bare deploy command opens a guided prompt that walks you through environment selection, mode (compose, compose-ha, k8s, or k8s-ha), region, and other settings. Behind the scenes it builds your app, pushes container images, and applies your infrastructure configuration. Traefik handles SSL certificates automatically via Let's Encrypt.
See the Deployment guide for details on Docker Compose and Kubernetes options.
Project Structure
src/
├── client/ # React SPA (Vite)
├── server/ # Hono API (Node.js)
└── shared/ # Shared TypeScript types
supabase/
└── migrations/ # SQL migrations
content/
├── blog/ # Blog posts (MDX)
├── changelog/ # Release notes (MDX)
└── docs/ # Documentation (MDX)
docker-compose.yml # Local dev environment (Supabase, Traefik)
docker-compose.prod.yml # Production overlay
k8s/ # Kubernetes manifests (Kustomize)
.env.local # Local environment variables (git-ignored)
Next Steps