Getting Started

Get SvelteForge Admin running locally in under five minutes. The project uses SvelteKit with Svelte 5, so the development experience is fast — hot module replacement, instant server restarts, and type-safe routing out of the box.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22.17+ (LTS recommended)
• pnpm — Install globally with npm install -g pnpm if you don't have it

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-org/svelteforge-admin.git
cd svelteforge-admin

2. Install dependencies

pnpm install

3. Set up the database

SvelteForge uses Drizzle ORM with SQLite (via better-sqlite3 in WAL mode). Push the schema to create the database file:

pnpm db:push

This creates svelteforge.db in the project root with all tables: users, sessions, pages, notifications, oauthAccounts, appSettings, and passwordResetTokens.

4. Seed with sample data

pnpm db:seed

The seed script populates the database with realistic sample data:

5. Start the dev server

pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:5173 in your browser. SvelteKit's dev server provides instant hot module replacement — changes to Svelte components, server code, and styles reflect immediately.

Default Login Credentials

After seeding, you can log in with any of these accounts to test different permission levels:

Note: If you register a new account on a fresh database (before seeding), the first registered user automatically receives the admin role. Subsequent registrations default to the viewer role.

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root. Copy from .env.example if available:

# Database
DATABASE_URL=svelteforge.db

# Application
ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173

# OAuth (optional — providers are disabled when not set)
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=

OAuth providers are configured in #lib/server/oauth.ts using SvelteKit's $app/env/private. When the environment variables are missing, the corresponding social login buttons are automatically hidden from the login page. See the Authentication docs for full OAuth setup instructions.

Available Commands

SvelteForge Admin uses pnpm as its package manager. Here are all available scripts:

SvelteKit Route Groups

SvelteForge Admin uses SvelteKit's file-based routing with route groups to apply different layouts and access controls to different sections of the app:

src/routes/
  (app)/          # Protected routes — requires authentication
    dashboard/    # Main dashboard with analytics
    users/        # User management CRUD
    content/      # CMS pages
    analytics/    # Charts and data visualization
    notifications/
    settings/
    roles/
    database/
  (auth)/         # Public auth routes — login, register, OAuth callbacks
    login/
    register/
    forgot-password/
    reset-password/
  (public)/       # Public pages — no auth required
    pricing/
  docs/           # Documentation (you are here)
  api/            # API endpoints
  logout/         # Server-only logout action

Route groups (directories wrapped in parentheses) do not affect the URL path. They exist purely for organizing layouts and middleware. The (app) group has an auth guard in its +layout.server.ts that redirects unauthenticated users to /login. SvelteKit's hooks.server.ts validates the session on every request and populates event.locals.user and event.locals.session.

Next Steps

• Project Structure — Understand the codebase layout
• Authentication — Configure OAuth and understand the auth flow
• Database — Learn the Drizzle ORM schema and migrations
• Routing — Deep dive into SvelteKit route groups and guards

Need More?