Local setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or newer
• PostgreSQL 14+ — or Docker to run the bundled compose file
• Git

1. Install

git clone https://github.com/Nexlm/nexlm.git
cd nexlm
npm install

2. Start PostgreSQL

docker compose up -d

This starts Postgres 16 on localhost:5432 with user/password postgres and database nexlm.

Database encoding

The database must use UTF-8. Nexlm stores "₦" and other non-ASCII characters in chat messages. Windows installs that default to WIN1252 will fail with Postgres error 22P05.

3. Configure the server

cp server/.env.example server/.env

Generate the secrets and paste them into server/.env:

# 32-byte encryption key for wallet secrets
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

# JWT secret
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(48).toString('hex'))"

# Platform escrow co-signer (run from server/)
node -e "import('@stellar/stellar-sdk').then(s => console.log(s.Keypair.random().secret()))"

See environment variables for everything else. The defaults target Stellar testnet.

4. Migrate and seed

npm run db:migrate
ADMIN_EMAIL=you@example.com ADMIN_PASSWORD='choose-one-1' npm run db:seed

5. Run

npm run dev:server   # API on http://localhost:4000
npm run dev:client   # app on http://localhost:5173

The Vite dev server proxies /api, /uploads and /socket.io to the API.

6. Try a trade

1. Register two users in separate browsers. On testnet each wallet receives 10,000 test XLM.
2. Verification emails print to the server log when SMTP isn't configured — open the link.
3. Without Smile ID, KYC goes to manual review: approve both users as the admin.
4. As user A, add a payout account and post a sell order. As user B, buy it.

Or run the automated smoke test.