Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ — nodejs.org
• pnpm 10+ — npm install -g pnpm
• PostgreSQL running on port 5440
• Redis running on port 6400

# Start PostgreSQL + Redis
docker run -d --name sl-postgres -p 5440:5432 -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres postgres:16-alpine
docker run -d --name sl-redis -p 6400:6379 redis:7-alpine

1. Create your app

npx create-startlabs my-app --template saas-starter
cd my-app
pnpm install

This scaffolds a complete SaaS application with authentication (email + social login, MFA, organizations), billing (Stripe subscriptions, customer portal), admin panel (user management, feature flags, audit log), and settings (profile, security, team, billing, notifications).

2. Configure environment

cp .env.example .env

Open .env and fill in the required values:

# Required
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5440/my_app
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=generate-a-random-32-char-string-here

# Optional
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=...
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=...

Create the database:

docker exec sl-postgres createdb -U postgres my_app

3. Set up the database

pnpm db:generate    # Generate migration SQL from schemas
pnpm db:migrate     # Apply migrations to your database

This creates all the tables your app needs, namespaced by module:

• sl_auth.* — users, sessions, accounts, organizations, roles
• sl_payments.* — subscriptions, invoices, customers
• sl_log.* — audit trail
• sl_notify.* — notifications, preferences, templates

4. Start development

pnpm dev

Two servers start:

5. Explore what you built

6. Add a module

Want to add booking to your SaaS? One import, one line:

// src/server.ts
import { bookingModule } from '@startlabs/booking';

const { app } = await createServer({
  modules: [
    dbModule,
    authModule,
    paymentsModule,
    bookingModule,  // new
  ],
});

Restart the dev server. You now have booking services, providers, and appointments API routes with availability and conflict detection.

7. Seed test data

pnpm seed

Creates test users, sample content, and demo data so you can see the app in action without manually creating everything.

8. Deploy

# Build for production
pnpm build

# Start production server
pnpm start

# Or deploy to Railway
git push railway main

Templates ship with Docker and Railway configs. Push to your Railway project and it handles the rest.

Project structure

my-app/
  src/
    server.ts       # API entry point — modules registered here
    db.ts           # Drizzle database client
    env.ts          # Typed environment variables
    app/
      app.tsx       # React app root with providers
      router.tsx    # Client-side routing
      pages/        # All page components
      styles/       # Global CSS with design tokens
  drizzle/
    schema.ts       # Unified schema (re-exports from all modules)
    migrations/     # Generated SQL migrations
  docker-compose.yml
  drizzle.config.ts
  vite.config.ts
  theme.config.ts   # App branding (colors, name, mode)

Available templates

Next steps