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Installation and local run

Run the API and web app locally, or start the full stack with Docker Compose.

Prerequisites

You need the following tools before you run GIF Creator locally:

  • .NET SDK 10.0+
  • Node.js 20+
  • npm 10+
  • FFmpeg 6+
  • Docker Desktop 24+ if you want the containerised route

Run the backend API

cd src/GifCreator.Api
dotnet run

The API is available at http://localhost:5232, and Swagger is available at http://localhost:5232/swagger.

Run the frontend

cd src/GifCreator.Web
npm install
npm run dev

The frontend is available at http://localhost:5173. During development the Vite server proxies /api and /hubs to the backend automatically.

Run with Docker Compose from source

If you want the full stack with the encoder service wired in, run the repository root compose file.

docker compose up --build

This starts the api, encoder, and web services together. The containerised frontend listens on http://localhost:8001.

Run with Docker Hub images

If you want to run the published images instead of building from source, use docker-compose.prod.yml. That file points at the Docker Hub images for api, encoder, and web.

Architecture at a glance

flowchart LR
    A[Browser SPA] --> B[ASP.NET Core API]
    B --> C[SQLite + storage]
    B --> D[Encoder service]
    B --> E[GitHub Models API]

Next step

After the app is running, move to Create your first project.