Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Bun v1.3+
• Docker (for local PostgreSQL)
• Node.js 18+ (for Next.js)

Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/niklas-jacobsen/licenseplate-checker.git
   cd licenseplate-checker

2. Start local services

   docker compose up -d

   This starts a PostgreSQL 17 instance on port 5432 with default credentials (postgres/admin, database mydb).

3. Configure environment

   Backend (apps/api/.env):

   cp apps/api/.env.example apps/api/.env

   Variable	Description
   PORT	Server port (default: 8080)
   DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string (default in docker-compose.yml)
   JWT_SECRET	Secret for signing JWT tokens
   ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Comma-separated frontend URLs for CORS
   API_BASE_URL	Base URL of the API for Trigger.dev callbacks (default: http://localhost:8080)

   Frontend (apps/web/.env.local):

   Variable	Description
   NEXT_PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL	Backend API URL (default: http://localhost:8080)

   For more info on environment variables, see Environment Variables

4. Install dependencies

   bun install

5. Run database migrations

   bun db:migrate

6. Set up Trigger.dev (required for workflow execution)

   Create a free account at trigger.dev and create a new project. Then add the following to your apps/api/.env:

   Variable	Description
   TRIGGER_SECRET_KEY	Dev API key from your Trigger.dev dashboard (tr_dev_...)
   TRIGGER_WEBHOOK_SECRET	A secret string used to authenticate webhook callbacks (defaults to dev-webhook-secret)
   API_BASE_URL	Base URL of your local API for Trigger.dev callbacks (default: http://localhost:8080)

   Start the Trigger.dev dev CLI in a separate terminal:

   cd apps/api
   bunx trigger dev

   This connects your local machine to Trigger.dev's cloud, allowing it to discover tasks and send webhook callbacks to your local API.

7. Start development servers

   bun turbo run dev

   This starts both the API (port 8080) and the frontend (port 3000) in parallel.

Project Structure

licenseplate-checker/
├── apps/
│   ├── api/          # Hono + Bun backend
│   ├── web/          # Next.js frontend
│   └── docs/         # VitePress documentation
├── packages/
│   └── shared/       # Shared validators, types, utilities
├── turbo.json        # Turborepo task config
└── package.json      # Workspace root

Available Scripts

Command	Description
bun dev	Start all apps in development mode
bun build	Build all apps
bun lint	Lint all packages with Biome
bun format	Format all packages with Biome
bun test	Run unit and integration tests
bun typecheck	TypeScript type checking