Prerequisites
Before you begin, you must have one of the following:- Docker and Docker Compose (recommended — no local PHP or Node install needed), or
- PHP 8.5+ with Composer, and Node.js with npm, if you’d rather run Orbit natively
Get started
- Docker
- Native (PHP + Node)
The Orbit team uses Doppler to manage the Docker stack’s environment variables, but it’s entirely optional — you don’t need a Doppler account or its CLI to run Orbit locally. If this directory was never linked with
doppler setup, make setup falls back to bootstrapping a plain .env file for you automatically. See Docker for how the two modes differ.1
Clone the repository
2
Run the setup target
The
Makefile wraps Docker Compose. make setup builds the app and vite images, boots them, and bootstraps .env, the SQLite database file, the app key, and migrations for you.3
Start the app
5173. This also starts the queue worker (needed for email notifications) and the nsfwjs avatar-moderation service — see Docker for the full list. make up runs in the foreground; use make up-d instead to run detached.4
Seed demo data (optional)
migrate:fresh --seed, giving you demo projects, issues, and users to explore instead of an empty workspace.Create your first project
Once Orbit is running:- Register an account at
/register. The first account created becomes an admin; everyone who registers after that is a regular member. - Follow the onboarding prompts to create your first project — give it a name, description, and color.
- Open the project and create an issue to see the List, Board, and Calendar views in action.