| # Dev Environment | |
| To make changes to Invoke's backend, frontend, or documentation, you'll need to set up a dev environment. | |
| If you just want to use Invoke, you should use the [installer][installer link]. | |
| !!! info "Why do I need the frontend toolchain?" | |
| The repo doesn't contain a build of the frontend. You'll be responsible for rebuilding it every time you pull in new changes, or run it in dev mode (which incurs a substantial performance penalty). | |
| !!! warning | |
| Invoke uses a SQLite database. When you run the application as a dev install, you accept responsibility for your database. This means making regular backups (especially before pulling) and/or fixing it yourself in the event that a PR introduces a schema change. | |
| If you don't need to persist your db, you can use an ephemeral in-memory database by setting `use_memory_db: true` in your `invokeai.yaml` file. You'll also want to set `scan_models_on_startup: true` so that your models are registered on startup. | |
| ## Setup | |
| 1. Run through the [requirements][requirements link]. | |
| 2. [Fork and clone][forking link] the [InvokeAI repo][repo link]. | |
| 3. Create an directory for user data (images, models, db, etc). This is typically at `~/invokeai`, but if you already have a non-dev install, you may want to create a separate directory for the dev install. | |
| 4. Create a python virtual environment inside the directory you just created: | |
| ```sh | |
| python3 -m venv .venv --prompt InvokeAI-Dev | |
| ``` | |
| 5. Activate the venv (you'll need to do this every time you want to run the app): | |
| ```sh | |
| source .venv/bin/activate | |
| ``` | |
| 6. Install the repo as an [editable install][editable install link]: | |
| ```sh | |
| pip install -e ".[dev,test,xformers]" --use-pep517 --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu121 | |
| ``` | |
| Refer to the [manual installation][manual install link]] instructions for more determining the correct install options. `xformers` is optional, but `dev` and `test` are not. | |
| 7. Install the frontend dev toolchain: | |
| - [`nodejs`](https://nodejs.org/) (recommend v20 LTS) | |
| - [`pnpm`](https://pnpm.io/8.x/installation) (must be v8 - not v9!) | |
| 8. Do a production build of the frontend: | |
| ```sh | |
| cd PATH_TO_INVOKEAI_REPO/invokeai/frontend/web | |
| pnpm i | |
| pnpm build | |
| ``` | |
| 9. Start the application: | |
| ```sh | |
| cd PATH_TO_INVOKEAI_REPO | |
| python scripts/invokeai-web.py | |
| ``` | |
| 10. Access the UI at `localhost:9090`. | |
| ## Updating the UI | |
| You'll need to run `pnpm build` every time you pull in new changes. Another option is to skip the build and instead run the app in dev mode: | |
| ```sh | |
| pnpm dev | |
| ``` | |
| This starts a dev server at `localhost:5173`, which you will use instead of `localhost:9090`. | |
| The dev mode is substantially slower than the production build but may be more convenient if you just need to test things out. | |
| ## Documentation | |
| The documentation is built with `mkdocs`. To preview it locally, you need a additional set of packages installed. | |
| ```sh | |
| # after activating the venv | |
| pip install -e ".[docs]" | |
| ``` | |
| Then, you can start a live docs dev server, which will auto-refresh when you edit the docs: | |
| ```sh | |
| mkdocs serve | |
| ``` | |
| On macOS and Linux, there is a `make` target for this: | |
| ```sh | |
| make docs | |
| ``` | |
| [installer link]: ../installation/installer.md | |
| [forking link]: https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/working-with-forks/fork-a-repo | |
| [requirements link]: ../installation/requirements.md | |
| [repo link]: https://github.com/invoke-ai/InvokeAI | |
| [manual install link]: ../installation/manual.md | |
| [editable install link]: https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/cli/pip_install/#cmdoption-e | |