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Building from source is for developers who want to contribute, customize Bolly’s behavior, or run the latest unreleased changes.

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Prerequisites

Required

  • Rust (latest stable via rustup)
  • Node.js (LTS, v20+)
  • pnpm (NOT npm or yarn)
  • Git

For Desktop App

  • All of the above, plus:
  • Tauri 2 prerequisites (see platform guide)
  • macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools
  • Linux: webkit2gtk, libappindicator, librsvg
  • Windows: Visual Studio C++ Build Tools, WebView2

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Clone the repository

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Project structure

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Building the server

The server is a Rust application using Axum. It embeds the compiled client at build time via rust-embed.
1

Build the client first

The server embeds the client’s build output, so build the client first:
2

Build the server

The binary will be at target/release/bolly.
3

Run the server

Or run the binary directly:
Open http://localhost:26559 in your browser. Bolly will walk you through the initial setup.
For development, use cargo run (without --release) for faster compilation with debug symbols.

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Development mode (hot reload)

For active development, run the server and client separately with hot reload:
1

Start the server in dev mode

2

Start the client dev server

In a separate terminal:
The client dev server runs on http://localhost:5173 with hot module replacement.

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Building the desktop app

The desktop app wraps the client in a Tauri 2 shell, adding computer use capabilities.
1

Install Tauri prerequisites

Follow the Tauri 2 prerequisites guide for your platform.
2

Install dependencies

3

Development mode

This starts the desktop app with hot reload.
4

Build for production

Built artifacts will be in desktop/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

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Building the landing page

If you want to run or modify the marketing site:
The landing page runs on http://localhost:5173.
The landing page requires a PostgreSQL database (Neon) for user management features. For just viewing the site, the dev server works without it.

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Custom data directory

Set the BOLLY_HOME environment variable to use a different data directory:

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Code style and linting

Before submitting changes:

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Running tests

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Contributing

  1. Fork the repository from the main branch
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Test your changes locally
  4. Keep commit messages short and imperative
  5. Submit a pull request
See CONTRIBUTING.md in the repository for full guidelines.

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Next steps

Configuration

Customize personality, heartbeat, and memory settings.

API Keys

Learn about API keys for Anthropic, Google AI, and ElevenLabs.