Quick Start

Welcome to EduNest LMS — a production-ready Learning Management System built with Next.js 16 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript, PostgreSQL and Tailwind CSS. This page gets you from a fresh download to a running site in about 15 minutes.

New here? Read Product Overview for the big picture, then come back to install.

What you need

Node.js 20+ and npm
A PostgreSQL database (we recommend Neon — EduNest uses the @neondatabase/serverless driver)
About 15 minutes

Install in 4 steps

Terminal

# 1. Install dependencies
npm install

# 2. Create your environment file
#    Create .env.local with at least DATABASE_URL (JWT_SECRET / SECRET_KEY
#    are auto-generated by the install wizard's database step if unset).

# 3. Initialise the database (schema + seed)
npm run db:init

# 4. Start the dev server
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000. The first run launches the install wizard at /install — it walks you through the database check, admin account, and store settings.

Core environment variables

Variable	Purpose
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string
`JWT_SECRET`	Signs admin/customer session tokens
`SECRET_KEY`	AES-256-GCM key that encrypts stored integration secrets
`LICENSE_SERVER_URL`	License server (defaults to `https://creative-cape.com`)

See the Installation Guide for the full list and the License Guide for activation.

Where to go next

Installation Guide — detailed setup
Deployment Guide — ship to production
Admin Guide — run your LMS day-to-day
Add-on Development Guide — extend EduNest