Build your Root App

Building an App with Root requires a few key steps to set up your App's test environment and compile your project. In this guide, we’ll walk you through adding your DEV_TOKEN to your server project and compiling your App’s source code. After going through these steps, your App will be ready to run locally.

Add your DEV_TOKEN to the server project

1. Open the .env file in the App's server folder.

2. Add your previously generated DEV_TOKEN to the file. The completed file should look something like this (but contain your DEV_TOKEN rather than this sample):

   Complete content of a sample .env file

   DEV_TOKEN=ACROZj4Ilajlkgjoilkjdljfb5l2jln426k42548fdlj4359204undlajf_lkaejrln3904280294FLWalPd35aoier82m_lkad4lkjas0kj-aeheccewqioclbaljer34akjwqpz_-lk-kO52jQjlaljbjlk5299elk2aklbwpcast67lka0as2lgxlmqJSO98absLa34s90gask2ac

Build your App

Root Apps generally have three top-level source folders: client, networking, and server. These are the folder names Root recommends, and they'll be the names used by Root's starter-code generator.

An App's source code is a mix of protobuf and TypeScript. The networking source code is protbuf, so the Root tooling will first compile the protobuf into TypeScript and then run the TypeScript compiler. The server and client source is TypeScript, so the tooling will only run a TypeScript compile.

1. Open a terminal in your App's project folder.

2. Install the packages by running the following command:

   npm i

3. Build the App by running the following command:

   npm run build

The build command will compile all three source folders and produce two things for you:

• Your App's client in the client/dist folder.
• Your App's server in the server/dist folder.