Installation

This guide walks through cloning the repository, installing dependencies, and verifying that everything builds correctly. Once complete, you can proceed to either Local Development or Docker Quickstart.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure the following tools are installed:

Tool	Minimum Version	Check Command
Node.js	20.0.0	node --version
npm	10+ (ships with Node 20)	npm --version
.NET SDK	10.0	dotnet --version
Git	2.x	git --version

Optional tools (needed for specific platforms):

Tool	Needed For	Check Command
Docker	Docker deployment, running PostgreSQL locally	docker --version
Rust / Cargo	Desktop app (Tauri 2)	rustc --version
Expo CLI	Mobile app development	npx expo --version

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/four-robots/relate-mail.git
cd relate-mail

Install Frontend Dependencies

Relate Mail uses npm workspaces to coordinate the frontend packages (web, desktop, shared library, and docs). A single npm install at the root pulls in dependencies for all workspaces:

npm install

Next, build the shared package. The web, desktop, and docs packages all depend on @relate/shared, so this must be built before anything else:

npm run build:shared

This compiles the shared TypeScript types, UI components, and utility functions that the other frontend packages import.

Build the Backend

The .NET backend lives in the api/ directory and contains six projects. Build them all at once:

cd api
dotnet build

This compiles:

• Relate.Smtp.Core — Domain entities and repository interfaces
• Relate.Smtp.Infrastructure — Entity Framework Core data access, migrations, and services
• Relate.Smtp.Api — REST API with controllers, authentication, and SignalR hub
• Relate.Smtp.SmtpHost — SMTP server (submission + MX inbound)
• Relate.Smtp.Pop3Host — POP3 server
• Relate.Smtp.ImapHost — IMAP server

Verify the Build

Run the unit tests to make sure everything is working:

# From the api/ directory
dotnet test --filter "Category=Unit"

Unit tests do not require a database or any running services. They should pass immediately after a clean build.

For the frontend, verify the web app builds cleanly:

# From the repository root
npm run build:web

What's Next

You now have all code compiled and ready. Choose your next step:

• Local Development — Start PostgreSQL, the API, protocol servers, and a frontend dev server for day-to-day development work.
• Docker Quickstart — Skip local toolchain setup and run everything in containers.