Getting Started with the Stackkeel AI Development Starter Kit

Go from GitHub template to a personalized, running application in one sitting. The steps below cover the copy, install, personalization, and first launch.

Prerequisites

• Node 22+ (.nvmrc is set; nvm use)
• pnpm 10+
• A Postgres database (Neon recommended; local Postgres works via DATABASE_URL)

Steps

1. Copy the template. Use GitHub’s “Use this template” on chenson42/stackkeel (or fork/clone) and point origin at your new repository.
2. Install. pnpm install — this also installs the git hooks (commit grammar, work-log gate, pre-push verification).
3. Personalize. Open the repo in your AI assistant. The session-start check detects an unpersonalized copy and directs you to run the personalize skill (.claude/skills/personalize/SKILL.md — readable by any Agent Skills-compatible tool). It interviews you for identity and branding, asks which apps and features you actually need, strips the rest, and records everything in kit.json. Without an assistant: pnpm kit:check --why explains the state; the skill file is a runnable checklist.
4. Configure env. Copy .env.example to .env.local and fill in the values the personalization report lists (database URL, AUTH_SECRET, TOTP encryption key, Google OAuth, initial admin emails).
5. Migrate + seed. pnpm --filter @repo/db migrate && pnpm --filter @repo/db seed
6. Run. pnpm dev — portal on :3000, admin on :3001.

Deliberately opting out

If you’re using the kit as a reference rather than a product base, set identity.personalizationDeclined: true in kit.json to silence the gate.