Local development guide for the Happy monorepo. How to build, install, test, and run the CLI, server, mobile app, and desktop (Tauri) locally. Use when the user types /dev, asks how to "build", "start dev", "install locally", or "run the ___ package".
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Added May 26, 2026
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---
name: dev
description: >
Local development guide for the Happy monorepo. How to build, install,
test, and run the CLI, server, mobile app, and desktop (Tauri) locally.
Use when the user types /dev, asks how to "build", "start dev", "install
locally", or "run the ___ package".
---
# /dev - Local Development
Happy is a pnpm monorepo. Everything uses pnpm workspaces — do not use `npm` or `yarn` directly.
## First-time setup
```bash
pnpm install # installs deps for every package
pnpm --filter happy cli:install # builds happy-cli + links it as the global `happy` binary
```
`cli:install` replaces whatever `happy` is on your PATH (npm-installed or not) with a symlink to `packages/happy-cli/`. Daemon is restarted as part of the script. Uses `~/.happy/` — same as production.
To undo: `npm unlink -g happy && npm i -g happy@latest`.
## Packages
packages/happy-cli # the `happy` CLI and daemon, published to npm
packages/happy-server # Node + Prisma server, deployed via TeamCity
packages/happy-app # Expo app: iOS, Android, web, Tauri desktop
packages/happy-agent # agent runtime
packages/happy-wire # shared Zod schemas + wire types
## happy-cli
packages/happy-cli
scripts in package.json:
typecheck # tsc --noEmit
build # rm -rf dist && tsc --noEmit && pkgroll
test # build + vitest run
cli:install # build + stop daemon + npm link + start daemon
prepublishOnly # pnpm test (runs build inside test)
postinstall # unpacks difft + rg binaries into tools/unpacked/
Work loop:
```bash
pnpm --filter happy cli:install # rebuild + relink + restart daemon
happy daemon status # confirm your build is running
happy doctor # list all happy processes
tail -f ~/.happy/logs/$(ls -t ~/.happy/logs/ | head -1)
```
Run a single test file quickly:
```bash
pnpm --filter happy exec vitest run src/path/to/file.test.ts
```
Unit-only (fast, ~1 min):
```bash
pnpm --filter happy exec vitest run --project unit
```
Integration tests hit real APIs and are flaky — run on demand, never in the release gate.
### Dev data sandbox (optional)
`happy` reads `HAPPY_HOME_DIR` to override `~/.happy/`. To run two versions side-by-side without touching your prod auth:
```bash
HAPPY_HOME_DIR=~/.happy-dev happy daemon start
HAPPY_HOME_DIR=~/.happy-dev happy auth
```
Point at a local server the same way:
```bash
HAPPY_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3005 happy daemon start
```
## happy-server
```bash
pnpm --filter happy-server standalone:dev # localhost:3005, embedded PGlite, no Docker
```
App auto-reloads on source changes. Point the CLI or the Expo app at it with `HAPPY_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3005` / `EXPO_PUBLIC_HAPPY_SERVER_URL=...`.
## happy-app (Expo)
```bash
pnpm --filter happy-app start # expo start (Metro bundler)
pnpm --filter happy-app ios:dev # iOS simulator, development variant
pnpm --filter happy-app android:dev
pnpm --filter happy-app web # web build, served locally
pnpm --filter happy-app tauri:dev # macOS desktop app
```
Variants:
development com.slopus.happy.dev # hot reload, internal
preview com.slopus.happy.preview # OTA / beta testing
production com.ex3ndr.happy # App Store
### Rebuild and reinstall the desktop .app
When the user asks to "rebuild the desktop app", "kill the running one and reinstall", or anything in that shape — do all four steps in order, do not stop after building.
Variants → product name → build script:
production Happy.app pnpm --filter happy-app tauri:build:production
preview Happy (preview).app pnpm --filter happy-app tauri:build:preview
dev Happy (dev).app pnpm --filter happy-app tauri:build:dev
Build output for all variants:
packages/happy-app/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/<ProductName>.app
If the variant is ambiguous, check what's running with `ps aux | grep "/Applications/.*Happy" | grep -v grep` and match. Production is the default.
Steps (substitute `$NAME` with the product name, e.g. `Happy` or `Happy (dev)`):
```bash
# 1. build (slow: ~3–10 min, expo web export then cargo release build)
pnpm --filter happy-app tauri:build:production
# 2. quit the running app gracefully (no-op if not running)
osascript -e 'tell application "$NAME" to quit' || true
# 3. replace the installed bundle
rm -rf "/Applications/$NAME.app"
cp -R "packages/happy-app/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/$NAME.app" /Applications/
# 4. relaunch
open -a "$NAME"
```
Notes:
- Run the build in the background (`run_in_background: true` on Bash) and poll the output file. It prints `Finished \`release\` profile` near the end.
- `osascript ... to quit` is graceful — it gives the app a chance to flush state. Only fall back to `pkill -f "/Applications/$NAME.app/Contents/MacOS/app"` if the quit hangs.
- Do NOT skip the `rm -rf` before `cp` — `cp -R` over an existing `.app` merges directories and leaves stale files.
- If macOS Gatekeeper complains on relaunch, `xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/$NAME.app"` clears it. Local builds are unsigned.
## happy-app-logs (remote log receiver)
```bash
pnpm --filter happy-app-logs dev # starts on http://0.0.0.0:8787
```
Receives POST requests to `/logs` from the mobile app's patched console (see `consoleLogging.ts`).
Logs to stdout and `~/.happy/app-logs/<timestamp>.log`.
To connect: set the log server URL in the app's dev settings to `http://<LAN_IP>:8787`.
The app's `consoleLogging.ts` sends all console.log/warn/error to this endpoint when configured.
Console output must be enabled in the app (dev/preview variants default on, production defaults off,
togglable from the dev settings screen).
## Cross-cutting
- **Hoisted deps:** pnpm hoists node_modules to the repo root. `packages/*/node_modules/` is mostly empty. Node's resolution walks up, so imports work transparently.
- **Workspace deps:** `"@slopus/happy-wire": "workspace:*"` resolves to `packages/happy-wire/` — edits are picked up live.
- **`$npm_execpath`:** legacy; happy-cli uses `pnpm` literally. Windows cmd.exe doesn't expand `$VAR`.
- **Build before tests:** tests spawn the built CLI binary (for daemon integration), so `pnpm test` runs `build` first. Do not remove.
## Releasing
Do not publish by hand. Use `/release` — it handles npm publish, git tags, GitHub releases, and the smoke check.
## Troubleshooting
happy: command not found → pnpm --filter happy cli:install
daemon won't start → happy daemon stop; rm ~/.happy/daemon.state.json.lock; happy daemon start
wrong `happy` version → which happy && ls -la $(which happy) — confirms where it resolves to
tools/unpacked missing → pnpm install (postinstall re-extracts)
stale deps after branch swap → pnpm install (pnpm is picky about lockfile drift)
## Rules
- Never use `npm install` or `yarn install` — only pnpm.
- Never add a `dev` / `cli` tsx-based script back to happy-cli. The build step is not optional — daemon spawns the built binary and would desync.
- Never bring back `release-it`. Releases go through `/release`.
- Never introduce `~/.happy-dev` as a default. It exists as an opt-in via `HAPPY_HOME_DIR`, nothing more.