Installation

This guide walks you through setting up Reqcore on your local machine using Docker Compose. The entire process takes about 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Minimum Version	Check Command
Docker	20.x+	`docker --version`
Docker Compose	v2+	`docker compose version`
Node.js	18.20+ (LTS 20+ recommended)	`node --version`
npm	9+	`npm --version`
Git	Any recent version	`git --version`

Installing Docker

OS	Instructions
macOS	Download Docker Desktop for Mac
Windows	Download Docker Desktop for Windows — use Git Bash for all commands
Linux	Follow the Docker Engine install guide for your distro

Step 1 — Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/reqcore-inc/reqcore.git
cd reqcore

No Git? Download a ZIP and unzip manually.

Step 2 — Generate Environment Variables

Run the setup script to create a .env file with random passwords and secrets:

./setup.sh

This generates cryptographically secure values for:

BETTER_AUTH_SECRET — session signing key
POSTGRES_PASSWORD — database password
MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD — object storage password

Windows users: Run bash setup.sh from Git Bash.

Step 3 — Start Infrastructure Services

Start PostgreSQL, MinIO (S3-compatible object storage), and Adminer (database GUI):

docker compose up -d

Verify everything is running:

docker compose ps

You should see three healthy containers:

postgres on port 5432
minio on ports 9000 (S3 API) and 9001 (Console)
adminer on port 8080

Step 4 — Install Dependencies

npm install

Step 5 — Start the Dev Server

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser. You should see the Reqcore landing page.

Local Services

Once running, you have access to:

Service	URL	Purpose
Reqcore App	http://localhost:3000	The application
Adminer	http://localhost:8080	Database GUI
MinIO Console	http://localhost:9001	Object storage GUI
MinIO S3 API	http://localhost:9000	S3 endpoint
PostgreSQL	`localhost:5432`	Direct database access

Stopping Services

# Stop the Nuxt dev server
# Press Ctrl+C in the terminal

# Stop Docker containers
docker compose down

# Stop and remove all data (fresh start)
docker compose down -v

Troubleshooting

Port conflicts

If port 3000 is busy, Nuxt will automatically pick the next available port. For Docker services, check docker compose ps and stop conflicting containers.

Database connection errors

Verify PostgreSQL is running and the DATABASE_URL in .env matches your Docker Compose config:

docker compose logs postgres

MinIO connection errors

Check that MinIO is healthy:

docker compose logs minio

The default credentials are in your .env file (MINIO_ROOT_USER and MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD).

Next Steps

Configuration — Customize environment variables and settings
Quick Start — Create your first job and hire your first candidate