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Getting Started

This guide walks you through setting up GLHF for local development.

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js 18.x–20.x
  • Yarn 4 (the repo uses Yarn PnP)

Clone & Install​

git clone https://github.com/glhf-lab/glhf.git
cd glhf

Backend Setup​

  1. Install dependencies:
cd backend
yarn install
  1. Create your environment file:
cp .env.example .env
  1. Generate the required secrets and paste them into .env:
echo "APP_KEYS=$(openssl rand -base64 16),$(openssl rand -base64 16),$(openssl rand -base64 16)"
echo "API_TOKEN_SALT=$(openssl rand -base64 16)"
echo "ADMIN_JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 16)"
echo "TRANSFER_TOKEN_SALT=$(openssl rand -base64 16)"
echo "USER_EMAIL_HMAC_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)"
echo "NEXTAUTH_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 32)"
echo "ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 16)"
  1. Start the backend:
yarn develop

  1. Open http://localhost:1337/admin and create an admin user.

  2. Stop the backend, import the seed data, then restart:

# Ctrl+C to stop
yarn import
yarn develop

Frontend Setup​

  1. In a new terminal, install dependencies:
cd frontend
yarn install
  1. Create your environment file:
cp .env.example .env

  1. Copy the NEXTAUTH_SECRET value from the backend .env into the frontend .env — they must match.

  2. Create a Strapi API token for the frontend auth flow:

    • Go to the Strapi admin: Settings → API Tokens
    • Click Create new API Token
    • Name: Next Auth
    • Duration: Unlimited
    • Type: Custom
    • Permissions: Verification-token: create, verify, findOne and User-permissions.Auth: getJwtFromEmail
    • Save and copy the token into STRAPI_PASSWORDLESS_TOKEN in the frontend .env

  3. Start the frontend:

yarn dev

The app is now available at http://localhost:3000.

No email server?

If no SMTP server is configured, sign-in magic link URLs are printed to the backend console.

Verify It Works​

  1. Visit http://localhost:3000 and sign in with an email address
  2. Check the backend console for the magic link URL
  3. Click the link to complete sign-in
  4. You should see the participant dashboard

Login page with email sign-in and OAuth options

Configure Your Study​

With the app running, open the Strapi admin at http://localhost:1337/admin to configure your study — name, consent text, pages, and more. See CMS Content for a full guide on what each content type controls.

Next Steps​