Installation

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• Node.js 20+ — download here
• pnpm — install with npm install -g pnpm
• Git — download here

Verify your setup:

node --version   # v20.0.0 or higher
pnpm --version   # 9.0.0 or higher
git --version    # any recent version

Clone the repository

After purchasing KitRocket, you'll receive access to the private GitHub repository. Clone it:

git clone https://github.com/KitRocket/build-something-great.git my-saas
cd my-saas

If you received a zip file instead, extract it and navigate to the directory:

unzip kitrocket.zip -d my-saas
cd my-saas

Install dependencies

pnpm install

This installs all packages including Next.js, Better Auth, Drizzle ORM, Resend, and everything else you need.

Set up environment variables

Copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env.local

Open .env.local and fill in the required values. At minimum, you need:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/kitrocket"
AUTH_SECRET="your-random-secret-here"

Generate a secure AUTH_SECRET:

openssl rand -base64 32

See Environment Setup for the full list of variables and how to get each one.

Run the dev server

pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:3000. You should see the KitRocket landing page.

Initialize the database

On first run, push the database schema:

pnpm db:push

This creates all tables in your database using Drizzle ORM.

Verify everything works

1. Visit http://localhost:3000 — landing page loads
2. Click "Get Started" — redirects to /register
3. Create an account with email/password
4. You're redirected to /dashboard

If something doesn't work, check Common Errors.

Next steps

• Project Structure — understand the codebase layout
• Environment Setup — configure OAuth, payments, email
• First Run — what happens when you start the app
• Build Your First Feature — use Claude Code to add functionality