Development Workflow

This document describes the recommended workflow for developing SkillHub locally.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (for dependency services and staging)
• Java 21 (for running the backend locally)
• Node.js 22 + pnpm (for running the frontend locally)
• gh CLI (for creating pull requests): https://cli.github.com/

Stage 1: Local Development (fast iteration)

Use this stage for active development — writing code, fixing bugs, iterating quickly.

Start the full local stack

make dev-all

This starts:

• Dependency services (Postgres, Redis, MinIO) via Docker
• Backend (Spring Boot) directly on your machine at http://localhost:8080
• Frontend (Vite) directly on your machine at http://localhost:3000

SkillHub now pins a shared Docker Compose project name for local development, so multiple git worktrees can reuse the same dependency containers instead of fighting over 5432, 6379, and 9000.

Backend restarts

Frontend: Vite HMR is enabled by default. Save a file and the browser updates instantly.

Backend: the local server now runs from a packaged Spring Boot jar instead of spring-boot:run. This avoids mixed classpaths across skillhub-app, skillhub-auth, skillhub-domain, and other sibling modules.

After editing backend code, restart the backend explicitly:

make dev-server-restart

If you are running the server in a foreground terminal instead of make dev-all, stop it and run make dev-server again. Expect a full restart in about 5-10 seconds, including rebuilding the backend modules.

Mock authentication

Two mock users are available in local mode (no password needed):

User ID	Role	Header
local-user	Regular user	X-Mock-User-Id: local-user
local-admin	Super admin	X-Mock-User-Id: local-admin

Local development also creates a password-based bootstrap admin by default. Use BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_USERNAME / BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_PASSWORD to log in through the normal local account form. The default local fallback credentials are admin / ChangeMe!2026. To disable it for local source startup, set the environment variable BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_ENABLED=false before starting the backend. For container or release environments, set the same value in .env.release or the Compose environment.

Useful commands

Command	Description
make dev-all	Start full local stack
make dev-all-down	Stop all local services
make dev-status	Check status of all services
make dev-logs	Tail backend logs
SERVICE=frontend make dev-logs	Tail frontend logs
make dev-all-reset	Full reset (clears data volumes)
make dev-server-restart	Restart backend after Java changes
make namespace-smoke	Run namespace workflow smoke test
make db-reset	Reset database only

Claude + Codex parallel workflow

When two agents need to work in parallel, do not point both of them at the same checkout. Create isolated task worktrees instead:

make parallel-init TASK=legal-pages

That creates dedicated Claude, Codex, and integration worktrees as sibling directories. Keep localhost:3000 reserved for the integration worktree only.

After the one-time setup, switch to the integration worktree for the daily merge + verification loop:

cd ../skillhub-integration-legal-pages
make parallel-up

Then verify the merged result at http://localhost:3000.

Because all worktrees share the same local dependency project, you only need one set of Postgres, Redis, and MinIO containers for all of them.

If you need to inspect or resolve merge conflicts before starting the app, you can still split the flow manually:

cd ../skillhub-integration-legal-pages
make parallel-sync
make dev-all

See 13-parallel-workflow.md for the full workflow, responsibilities, merge rules, and recovery guidance.

Stage 2: Staging Regression (pre-PR validation)

Use this stage when a feature or bugfix is complete and you want to verify it works correctly in a Docker environment before pushing.

What staging does

make staging runs a hybrid Docker environment:

• Backend: built as a Docker image from your local source
• Frontend: built as static files (pnpm build) and served by Nginx
• Dependencies: same Postgres/Redis/MinIO as local dev

This is faster than building both images but still validates the containerized backend and the production Nginx serving path.

Run staging

make staging

This will:

1. Build the backend Docker image
2. Build the frontend static files
3. Start all services
4. Run smoke tests against the API
5. Print pass/fail summary

If all tests pass, the environment stays running at:

• Web UI: http://localhost
• Backend API: http://localhost:8080

Stop staging

make staging-down

View staging logs

make staging-logs            # backend logs
SERVICE=web make staging-logs  # nginx logs

Stage 3: Create Pull Request

After staging passes:

make pr

This will:

1. Check for uncommitted changes (prompts to commit if any)
2. Push your branch to origin
3. Create a pull request using gh pr create --fill

The PR title and body are auto-populated from your commit messages.

Note: make pr requires an interactive terminal. Do not use it in CI.

Full workflow summary

make dev-all          # start local dev
# ... write code, test in browser ...
make staging          # regression test in Docker
make staging-down     # stop staging
make pr               # push + create PR