Getting Started

April 13, 2026 · View on GitHub

Installing your development environment
Configuring your local instance
Analyzing an application

Installing your development environment

You have different ways of setting up your development environment:

Docker
Manual

Docker setup

Requirements

Docker

Prepare your settings

You can tweak your instance by changing some settings.

Follow instructions to get AAS token here.

Create the file exodus/exodus/settings/custom_docker.py with the following content:

from .docker import *

GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL = "<a valid google account>"
GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_AAS_TOKEN = "<a valid aas token>"

# Overwrite any other settings you wish to

Run

echo uid=$(id -u) > .env
docker compose up -d
# Once exodus started, you can check its logs
docker compose logs -f exodus-front

When everything is up (Docker logs Exodus DB is ready.), you may have to force a first download of the F-Droid index:

docker compose exec exodus-worker /entrypoint.sh refresh-fdroid-index

The worker must be running to do this.

The exodus container automatically:

Create the database
Make migration
Import trackers from the main instance
Start the frontend of exodus

Don't forget to rebuild your image and refresh your container if there is any change with docker compose up -d --build.

Aliases

You can use the command

docker compose exec exodus-worker /entrypoint.sh "<command>"

to make actions, where <command> can be:

collect-static: Collect all static files
compile-messages: Compile the translation messages
create-db: Create the database and apply migrations
create-user: Create a Django user
make-messages: Create the extracted translation messages
import-trackers: Import all trackers from the main exodus instance
start-frontend: Start the web server
start-worker: Start the exodus worker
refresh-fdroid-index: Refresh F-Droid index file

Manual setup

This setup is based on a Debian 11 (Bullseye) configuration.

1 - Install dependencies

Install system dependencies

sudo apt install git gettext virtualenv postgresql-13 rabbitmq-server build-essential libssl-dev dexdump libffi-dev python3-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libpq-dev pipenv

Install apkeep, the tool used to download applications from the Google Play Store.

2 - Clone the project

git clone https://github.com/Exodus-Privacy/exodus.git

3 - Create database and user

sudo su - postgres
psql
CREATE USER exodus WITH PASSWORD 'exodus';
CREATE DATABASE exodus WITH OWNER exodus;
\c exodus
CREATE EXTENSION pg_trgm;

4 - Set Python virtual environment and install dependencies

cd exodus
pipenv install --dev

5 - Configure your instance

You can tweak your instance by changing some settings.

Follow instructions to get AAS token here.

Create the file exodus/exodus/settings/custom_dev.py with the following content:

from .dev import *

GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL = "<a valid google account>"
GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_AAS_TOKEN = "<a valid google aas token>"

# Overwrite any other settings you wish to

6 - Create the DB schema

echo "DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=exodus.settings.custom_dev" > .env
# enter into python environment
pipenv shell

cd exodus
python manage.py migrate --fake-initial
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

7 - Compile translations

python manage.py compilemessages

8 - Create admin user

python manage.py createsuperuser

9 - Install Minio server

Minio is in charge to store files like APK, icons, flow and pcap files.

wget https://dl.minio.io/server/minio/release/linux-amd64/minio -O $HOME/minio
chmod +x $HOME/minio

Configure Minio

mkdir -p $HOME/.minio
cat > $HOME/.minio/config.json << EOL
{
        "version": "33",
        "credential": {
                "accessKey": "exodusexodus",
                "secretKey": "exodusexodus"
        },
        "region": "",
        "browser": "on",
        "logger": {
                "console": {
                        "enable": true
                },
                "file": {
                        "enable": false,
                        "filename": ""
                }
        },
        "notify": {}
}
EOL

Create Minio storage location

mkdir -p /tmp/exodus-storage

10 - Start Minio

$HOME/minio server /tmp/exodus-storage --console-address :9001

Minio API is now listening on 9000 port and the browser interface is available at http://127.0.0.1:9001. Use exodusexodus as both login and password.

11 - Start the εxodus worker and scheduler

The εxodus handle asynchronous tasks submitted by the front-end. You have to activate the virtual venv and cd into the same directory as manage.py file.

pipenv shell
cd exodus

celery -A exodus.core worker --beat -l debug -S django

Now, the εxodus worker and scheduler are waiting for tasks.

12 - Start the εxodus front-end

You have to activate the virtual venv and cd into the same directory as manage.py file.

pipenv shell
cd exodus

python manage.py runserver

Now browse http://127.0.0.1

13 - Import the trackers definitions

Activate the εxodus virtual venv, cd into the same directory as manage.py file and execute the following commands:

python manage.py import_categories
python manage.py importtrackers

Now, browse your tracker list

14 - Get the F-droid index data

An initial F-droid index manual download may be required:

python manage.py refresh_fdroid_index

Configuring your local instance

The following options can be configured in exodus/exodus/settings/:

Setting	Description	Default value (from `base.py`)
ALLOW_APK_UPLOAD	Whether to allow APK file upload	False
ANALYSIS_REQUESTS_AUTO_CLEANUP_TIME	Requests cleanup frequency (in seconds)	86400
ANALYSIS_REQUESTS_KEEP_DURATION	Requests keep duration (in days)	4
DISABLE_SUBMISSIONS	Whether to disable app submissions	False
ETIP_HOSTNAME	ETIP URL	`https://etip.exodus-privacy.eu.org`
EX_PAGINATOR_COUNT	Number of elements per page	25
FDROID_INDEX_UPDATE_TIME	FDroid index file update frequency (in seconds)	86400
FDROID_MIRROR	FDroid repository to download apps	`https://f-droid.org/repo`
GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_AAS_TOKEN	AAS token of Google account to download apps	/
GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL	Email of Google account to download apps	/
TRACKERS_AUTO_UPDATE	Whether to update automatically trackers	False
TRACKERS_AUTO_UPDATE_FROM	API URL of an Exodus instance to update trackers from	`https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/api/trackers`
TRACKERS_AUTO_UPDATE_TIME	Trackers update frequency (in seconds)	345600
TRACKERS_STATISTICS_AUTO_UPDATE_TIME	Trackers statistics update frequency (in seconds)	259200

Analyzing an application

Browse to the analysis submission page and start a new analysis (ex: fr.meteo). When the analysis is finished, compare the results with the same report from the official instance.