~5 minutes

Quick Start Guide

Get your scanlation website running in just a few minutes.

System Requirements

Required

Node.js 20.x or later
pnpm 9.x (recommended) or npm/yarn
Git 2.x or later
A GitHub account (for accessing the template)

Optional

Docker & Docker Compose (for local DB)
S3-compatible storage (AWS S3, GCS, MinIO)
Stripe account (for payments)

Installation Steps

Clone the Repository

After purchasing, you'll get access to the private GitHub repository. Clone it to your local machine:

Terminal

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/scanlation-template.git

Install Dependencies

Navigate to the project directory and install all dependencies:

cd scanlation-templatepnpm install

Note: If you don't have pnpm installed, you can install it with npm install -g pnpm

Set Up Environment

Copy the example environment file and configure your settings:

cp .env.local.example .env.local

Edit .env.local with your database URL and other configuration. See Environment Variables for details.

# Required variables:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/scanlation
NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL=http://localhost:3000

# Storage (optional - uses local by default)
S3_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:9000
S3_BUCKET=scanlation
S3_ACCESS_KEY=minioadmin
S3_SECRET_KEY=minioadmin

Start Development Server

Start the development server and Docker services:

# Start database (Docker)pnpm docker:up# Start dev serverpnpm dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser!

API Security

Important: API Endpoints Require Authentication

All admin API endpoints (/api/admin/*) are protected with a fixed API token. You must configure the API_SECRET_TOKENenvironment variable and include it in all requests.

Configuration

# In your .env.local file:

API_SECRET_TOKEN=your-secure-random-token-here

Usage Example

# Include the token in requests:

curl -X POST /api/admin/series \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-secure-random-token-here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title": "New Series", ...}'

Verify Installation

Homepage loads at http://localhost:3000
No errors in the terminal
Database connection is successful
You can access MinIO console at http://localhost:9001 (if using Docker)

You're All Set! 🎉

Your scanlation website is now running locally. Explore the admin panel to add your first series, or check out the features documentation.

What's Next?

Add your first series Configure database Set up image storage Deploy to production