Server & Database Setup - bym-refitted/backyard-monsters-refitted GitHub Wiki

🎥 Tutorial

🔧 Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the setup, please ensure the following tools are installed:

Tool	Download Link	Notes
Git	git-scm.com/downloads	Required for cloning the repository and version control
PostgreSQL	postgresql.org/download	Database server
pgAdmin	Usually bundled with PostgreSQL	Optional but recommended database management tool
Redis	redis-windows releases	Choose the `cygwin.zip` version (not the service)
Node.js	nodejs.org	LTS version recommended
Beekeeper Studio	beekeeperstudio.io	Optional database management tool

🗄️ Database Setup

We have adopted PostgreSQL with MikroORM due to its advanced transaction handling, JSONB support, and strong consistency guarantees—making it ideal for scalable, high-performance applications.

✅ Steps to Set Up PostgreSQL

Download PostgreSQL
Install it here. We recommend allowing the installer to include pgAdmin (it should by default).
Set the Password
During installation, set the password for the postgres user to dev12345 — this matches the default in our .env file. If you choose a different password, be sure to update .env.
Create the Database
Open pgAdmin, expand Servers, and create a new database called bym.

⚡ Redis Setup

We use Redis to store user tokens, providing fast and efficient in-memory read/writes.

✅ Steps to Set Up Redis (Windows)

Download Redis for Windows

Choose the cygwin.zip version (not the service).
Extract the ZIP to a folder (e.g., Desktop).
Run redis-server.exe to launch Redis.

🌐 Server Setup

Our backend is a Node.js web server using Koa with TypeScript.

✅ Getting Started

Open your terminal and navigate to the server directory:
```
cd server
```
Install dependencies:
```
npm install
```
Initialize the database tables:
```
npm run db:init
```
Compile and run the server:
```
npm run db:init
```

If successful, the admin dashboard will be available at http://localhost:3001/

Configuration can be modified via the .env file.

🐝 Beekeeper Studio

For managing your database, we recommend using Beekeeper Studio.

✅ Connect to PostgreSQL

Open Beekeeper → New Connection → Select PostgreSQL
Use the following details:

Connection Type:      PostgreSQL
Connection Mode:      Host & Port
Host:                 localhost
Port:                 5432
User:                 postgres
Password:             dev12345 (or your custom one)
Default Database:     bym

Give it a name and connect.

Once Connected

Your tables will appear on the left panel.
Right-click a table → View Data.
If you haven't run the game yet, tables will be empty.
After starting the server and running the game, refresh to view populated data.