Development Setup

This guide walks you through setting up a local development environment for contributing to ClawDesk.

Prerequisites

Tool	Minimum Version	Purpose
Rust	1.75+	Core language (rustup recommended)
Cargo	Latest stable	Build system & package manager
Node.js	18+	Tauri frontend & docs site
pnpm	8+	Frontend package management
Git	2.30+	Version control
Docker	24+	Optional — containerized testing

Platform-Specific Dependencies

macOS:

xcode-select --install
brew install cmake openssl protobuf

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev libgtk-3-dev \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
  librsvg2-dev protobuf-compiler

Clone & Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/anthropics/clawdesk.git
cd clawdesk

# Build the entire workspace
cargo build

# Build in release mode (uses fat LTO — takes longer)
cargo build --release

tip

The workspace uses edition = "2021" and rust-version = "1.75". If your toolchain is older, run rustup update stable.

Running Tests

# Run all 610 tests
cargo test --workspace

# Run tests for a specific crate
cargo test -p clawdesk-domain

# Run with output displayed
cargo test --workspace -- --nocapture

Running the Gateway

# Copy the example config
cp sochdb-server-config.toml.example sochdb-server-config.toml

# Set required environment variables
export CLAWDESK_CONFIG_PATH=./config.toml
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# Start the gateway server
cargo run -p clawdesk-cli -- serve

Running the Desktop App (Tauri)

cd crates/clawdesk-tauri

# Install frontend dependencies
pnpm install

# Start in development mode (hot-reload)
cargo tauri dev

IDE Setup

VS Code (Recommended)

Install the following extensions:

Extension	ID	Purpose
rust-analyzer	rust-lang.rust-analyzer	Rust language server
Even Better TOML	tamasfe.even-better-toml	Cargo.toml support
crates	serayuzgur.crates	Dependency version hints
Error Lens	usernamehw.errorlens	Inline error display

Recommended .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "rust-analyzer.cargo.features": "all",
  "rust-analyzer.check.command": "clippy",
  "rust-analyzer.check.extraArgs": ["--workspace"],
  "rust-analyzer.procMacro.enable": true,
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "[rust]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "rust-lang.rust-analyzer"
  }
}

JetBrains (RustRover / CLion)

1. Open the workspace root Cargo.toml
2. Enable Expand declarative macros in Rust settings
3. Set the toolchain to stable 1.75+

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	For Anthropic provider	API key for Claude models
OPENAI_API_KEY	For OpenAI provider	API key for GPT models
GOOGLE_API_KEY	For Gemini provider	API key for Gemini models
CLAWDESK_CONFIG_PATH	No	Path to config file (default: ./config.toml)
CLAWDESK_LOG	No	Log level filter (default: info)
CLAWDESK_DB_PATH	No	SochDB data directory
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	For Telegram channel	Bot token from @BotFather
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN	For Discord channel	Bot token from Discord Developer Portal
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN	For Slack channel	Bot OAuth token

Docker Development

# Build the development image
docker compose build

# Run the full stack
docker compose up -d

# Tail logs
docker compose logs -f gateway

Next Steps

• Read the Coding Standards before writing code
• Review the Testing Guide for test conventions
• Check the Pull Request Workflow for contribution flow