# Development

Set up Orchard for local development: run the client and server, apply development-only configuration, and run the unit, CI, and end-to-end tests. For people building on or contributing to Orchard's source.

This section is for contributing to **Orchard's source code**: running it from a clone,
making changes, and testing them. It is separate from the [Install](/install/installation/)
guide, which is for operators running a released build against their own services.

## What Orchard is built from

Orchard is a monorepo with the client and server in their own directories:

| Part | Location | Stack |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Client | `src/client` | Angular, Angular Material |
| Server | `src/server` | NestJS, GraphQL (Apollo) |
| Shared | `src/shared` | GraphQL types generated from the server schema |

The server stores its data with TypeORM in an SQLite database.

## Prerequisites

- **[Node.js](https://nodejs.org) v22** (the version pinned in `.nvmrc`), which includes npm.
- **git**, to clone the repository.
- **Docker** with the Compose plugin, for the [end-to-end tests](/development/e2e/).
- **Bitcoin full node** for the Oracle and [end-to-end tests](/development/e2e/).
- **Bitcoin, Lightning, and Cashu Mint** on regtest for local development. [Polar](https://lightningpolar.com) is useful for setting up a regtest environment.
- **[Ollama](https://ollama.com)** for the AI development and [end-to-end tests](/development/e2e/).

## Contributing changes

<Steps>

1. Fork [`cashubtc/orchard`](https://github.com/cashubtc/orchard) on GitHub, then clone
   your fork:

   ```bash
   git clone https://github.com/<you>/orchard.git
   cd orchard
   ```

2. Add the canonical repository as `upstream` so you can keep your fork in sync:

   ```bash
   git remote add upstream https://github.com/cashubtc/orchard.git
   ```

3. Create a branch for your change:

   ```bash
   git checkout -b my-change
   ```

4. Make your changes and run the [tests and checks](/development/testing/) before pushing.

5. Push to your fork and open a pull request against `cashubtc/orchard`:

   ```bash
   git push -u origin my-change
   ```

</Steps>

## Updating your fork

Before starting new work, pull in the latest changes so your branch stays current:

```bash
git fetch upstream
git rebase upstream/master
```

New to the codebase? [Running Locally](/development/running-locally/) walks through getting
Orchard running from source.

## In this section

<CardGrid>
  <LinkCard
    title="Running Locally"
    href="/development/running-locally/"
    description="Run the client and server dev processes, plus the configuration specific to development."
  />
  <LinkCard
    title="Testing & CI"
    href="/development/testing/"
    description="Run the server and client unit tests, formatting, and linting: the same checks CI runs."
  />
  <LinkCard
    title="End-to-End Testing"
    href="/development/e2e/"
    description="Run Playwright against full Docker stacks: Bitcoin, Lightning, a mint, and Orchard from source."
  />
</CardGrid>