---
Title: Building from source
---

# Building from source

The Content App is based on [Angular CLI](https://cli.angular.io), and you can use all the commands, generators, and blueprints supported by the CLI.

## Prerequisites for building

- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/) 18.x
- NPM 9.x
- (optional) [Angular CLI](https://cli.angular.io/) 14.x or later

> The Angular CLI libraries are already part of the setup.
> You may want installing it as a global (recommended) tool only if you intend using CLI commands separately.

## Cloning and running

Use the following commands to clone the project, install dependencies and run it.

```sh
git clone https://github.com/Alfresco/alfresco-content-app.git
cd alfresco-content-app
npm install
npm start
```

The application runs at port `4200` by default, and should automatically open in the default browser once the project has compiled.

## Setting up environment variables

You need to set some environment variables to be able to run the local dev server. In the project root folder, create an `.env` file (this is gitignored) with the following data:

```yml
# App config settings
BASE_URL="<URL>"
```

## Proxy settings

The Content App provides a proxy configuration for a local development server that allows you to address specific scenarios with CORS and a native authentication dialog.

You can find settings in the `proxy.conf.js` file in the project `src` directory. By default, settings coming from environment variables have higher priority.

**Note:** The proxy settings get automatically applied every time you run the application with the `npm start` script.
You must restart the application every time you change its settings.

## Running unit tests

Run `npm test` to execute the unit tests via [Karma](https://karma-runner.github.io).