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Local Setup (Advanced)

Running locally gives you full control over your editor, terminal, and Claude Code session. In exchange, you’re responsible for installing the tools below, cloning the repo, and keeping your environment in sync with your team’s.

Before You Start

Section titled “Before You Start”

You’ll need a Wallabi account with access to an app host. If you don’t have one, ask your team admin to invite you, or reach out to your Wallabi contact.

An app host is the project that contains your data apps — think of it as your team’s workspace. Each app host has a Git repository you’ll clone to your machine.

Tools

Section titled “Tools”

Install the following on your machine:

ToolVersionHow to get it
GitAny recent versiongit-scm.com — or use a Git GUI like GitHub Desktop
Node.jsv22Use NVM to install and manage versions
pnpmLatestInstall via pnpm.io/installation
Claude CodeLatestnpm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code — this is the AI assistant you’ll use to build apps
Code editor—VS Code is recommended, but everything works from the command line too

If you’re not sure whether a tool is installed, open a terminal and type its name with --version (e.g., git --version). If you see a version number, you’re good.

API Token

Section titled “API Token”

Local development needs a personal API token so your dev server can talk to Wallabi:

  1. Sign in to the Wallabi app
  2. Go to Settings > API Tokens
  3. Create a new token and save it somewhere secure — you’ll paste it into the setup script in a moment

Set Up Your App Host

Section titled “Set Up Your App Host”

  1. Get your app host repository URL. Open the Wallabi app, select your app host, and copy the Git URL from its settings.

    Clone it into a folder where you keep projects:

    Terminal window
    cd ~/projects
    git clone https://github.com/wallabidata/app-host-acme-corp.git
    cd app-host-acme-corp

    Replace wallabidata/app-host-acme-corp with your actual repository.

  2. Run the setup script. It will prompt you for your API token and a personal slug — a short name that identifies your dev environment (e.g., jane-dev, michael-test):

    Terminal window
    pnpm run setup

    This creates your personal development environment and saves your configuration locally.

  3. Install and build:

    Terminal window
    pnpm install
    pnpm run build

  4. Start the dev server:

    Terminal window
    pnpm run dev

  5. Open your apps. Go to your app hosts in the Wallabi app and click on your app host. You’ll see a list of your data apps — click any app name to open it. You can also find app URLs in the dev server’s terminal output.

  6. Start Claude Code. Open a second terminal in the same folder and run:

    Terminal window
    claude

    This launches Claude Code, which connects to your dev server and your data. Ask it to build new apps, modify existing ones, or explore your data.

Checking That Everything Works

Section titled “Checking That Everything Works”

After starting the dev server, you should see:

  • No error messages about missing configuration in the terminal
  • Your apps listed in the Wallabi app under your app host
  • Apps displaying data when you open them in your browser

After starting Claude Code, try asking:

  • “What data sources are available?”
  • “Describe the tables in [your data source name]”

If it can answer these questions, you’re all set.

If something isn’t working, see Troubleshooting.

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”