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Test your Root App

Root supports testing your App locally. Both your App's client and server are hosted on your local machine.

Your App's server still needs a valid DEV_TOKEN because execution isn't fully local. Your client-server communication goes through Root's servers. Also, many of the Root APIs run on Root's servers; for example, if you programmatically create a new message in a community channel, the request will go through Root's servers and then to the Root native client.

App server​

Your App's server will run inside the Root DevHost. The DevHost is a Node execution environment that's part of the Root SDK.

To launch your App's server inside DevHost, do the following:

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

  2. Run the following command:

    npm run server

    The server script is defined in the server's package.json file; it's shorthand for this:

    rootsdk start devhost --project-folder=../

    The devhost reads your launch entry-point from the root-manifest.json file in your project folder. Your entry-point file is the file containing the call to start:

    await rootServer.lifecycle.start();

App client​

Your App's client will run in a local web browser. The starter code created by Root's generator use Vite as the development server.

Root automatically adds the DevBar to the top of your running App client. The DevBar is an HTML element that helps your testing. It lets you choose which member you want your client to run as. The selector is automatically populated with all the community members and one virtual user that's different every time you run your client.

To launch your App's client, do the following:

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

  2. Run the following command:

    npm run client

    The client script is defined in the client's package.json file; it runs the development server vite. You can launch the client more than once to test multiple members connected to your App simultaneously.

Root native client (optional)​

If your App uses the Root Community API (e.g., programmatically create messages in community channels), then you can also launch the Root native client and navigate to the community represented in your DEV_TOKEN.