Running Locally - UpstandPlatform/OpenRive GitHub Wiki

OpenRive runs on your computer as a Bun + Next.js app. Nothing is sent anywhere, and there is no login.

• Bun 1.4 or newer — install with curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash, or on Windows powershell -c "irm bun.sh/install.ps1 | iex"
• Any modern browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
• Windows, macOS or Linux

Check your version with bun --version. No separate Node.js install is needed.

git clone https://github.com/UpstandPlatform/OpenRive.git
cd OpenRive

bun install

This also copies the Rive WASM runtime into apps/web/public/rive/, so the editor works offline.

bun run dev

bun run build
bun run start          # or: bun run cli serve

Open http://localhost:3000.

On first start OpenRive creates:

• a user called Admin, which you can rename on the Users page
• a Welcome to OpenRive project with the interactive logo

OpenRive stores everything in PostgreSQL through Drizzle ORM.

• No setup needed locally. Without DATABASE_URL, OpenRive runs an embedded PostgreSQL (PGlite) inside data/pgdata. Migrations are applied automatically at startup.

• A real server is one variable away:

  bun run db:up                                                     # starts PostgreSQL in Docker
  DATABASE_URL=postgres://openrive:openrive@localhost:5432/openrive bun run dev

Back your work up by copying the data/ folder (embedded) or with pg_dump (server). See Storage.

The embedded database belongs to one process at a time. Stop the dev server before running bun run cli against the same data folder, or point the CLI elsewhere with --data / --db.

apps/web        the editor (Next.js app: UI + REST API)
apps/cli        the openrive command (terminal UI) and the MCP server
apps/desktop    the desktop app (Electrobun)
packages/rive   the .riv format and editing core
packages/db     Drizzle schema, migrations and queries
packages/shared zod schemas, types and configuration
packages/ui     shared React components
data/           your projects (embedded database)

bun run cli serve --port 4000                 # another port
bun run cli serve --host 0.0.0.0              # reachable from your network

If other people can reach the server, set OPENRIVE_ACCESS_TOKEN, because the app has no login. See Self-hosting.

bun link
openrive              # interactive terminal UI
openrive --help

See CLI.

git pull
bun install
bun run build

Migrations run on the next start; your data is kept.

• User guide
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Connect an AI assistant with MCP
• Desktop app

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