Development

Astrofox is a client-side Next.js application with React and Three.js. It does not require a backend or authentication service for local development.

Requirements#

• Node.js compatible with the version declared by the project dependencies
• pnpm
• Git

Clone and install:

git clone https://github.com/astrofox-io/astrofox.git
cd astrofox
pnpm install

Run the web app#

pnpm dev

Create a production build with:

pnpm build

The regular build path is used for web deployment. Projects and media stay on the user's device; no local API service is required.

Run the desktop app#

The desktop development command starts the Next.js development environment and the Electron shell:

pnpm dev:desktop

For a production desktop package:

pnpm install-ffmpeg
pnpm build:desktop

Platform-specific commands are also available:

pnpm dist:win
pnpm dist:mac
pnpm dist:linux

BUILD_TARGET=desktop produces a static Next.js export in out/, which is then packaged with the Electron main process and preload bridge.

Develop plugins#

Run the example plugin server:

pnpm dev:plugins

It finds an available port, serves the example plugin directories with CORS, and prints manifest URLs to install in Astrofox. See Plugin authoring for the full workflow.

Architecture notes#

• The web and desktop builds share one application and project format.
• File System Access APIs are preferred for ordinary project and media I/O.
• The Electron bridge is limited to window chrome, ffmpeg, temporary files, and operating-system integration after export.
• Web video uses MediaRecorder; desktop offline export renders frames and sends them through the bundled ffmpeg binary.
• External JavaScript plugins run in sandboxed workers with a restrictive Content Security Policy.

Source code and contribution activity live in the Astrofox GitHub repository.