• For building apps with SolidStart, check the package README and our official docs
• For contributing to codebase, check CONTRIBUTING.md
• For creating a new template, please head over to solidjs/templates

[!IMPORTANT] This is the branch for the SolidStart 2.0.0-alpha that is currently under heavy development.

Current SolidStart is maintained at 1.x.

Prerequisites

• Node.js: Use the version specified in .nvmrc. To manage multiple versions across your system, we recommend a version manager such as fnm, or another of your choice.
• pnpm: Install globally via npm install -g pnpm. Or let Corepack handle it in the setup step below.
• Git: Ensure Git is installed for cloning and managing the repository.

Monorepo Structure

SolidStart is a pnpm-based monorepo with nested workspaces. Key directories include:

• packages/start: The core @solidjs/start package.
• apps/landing-page: The official landing page.
• apps/tests: Unit and end-to-end (E2E) tests using Vitest and Playwright.
• apps/fixtures: Fixture projects for testing.

Use pnpm filters (e.g. pnpm --filter @solidjs/start ...) to target specific packages.

Local Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/solidjs/solid-start.git
   cd solid-start
   

2. Enable the correct pnpm version specified in package.json

   corepack enable
   

3. Install dependencies

   pnpm dedupe
   

   (pnpm dedupe will install dependencies and clean the lockfile from duplicates, useful for preventing conflicts).

4. Build all packages and the landing page

   pnpm run build:all
   

If you encounter issues (e.g. missing node_modules), clean the workspace

pnpm run clean:all

Then reinstall dependencies and rebuild.

Running Tests

End-to-end tests are located in apps/tests projects. For manual testing and development use the apps/fixtures apps, and finally, integration and unit tests live inside their respective packages.

1. Install the Chromium for Playwright binary (required only once)

   pnpm --filter tests exec playwright install chromium
   

2. For unit tests that check build artifacts, build the test app first

   pnpm --filter tests run build
   

3. Run unit tests (puts vitest in watch mode)

   pnpm --filter tests run unit
   

   • CI mode (run once): pnpm --filter tests run unit:ci
   • UI mode: pnpm --filter tests run unit:ui

4. Run E2E tests

   pnpm --filter tests run e2e
   

   • UI mode: pnpm --filter tests run e2e:ui

5. Clean test artifacts

   pnpm run clean:test
   

Development

1. Make your changes in the relevant package (e.g. packages/start)

2. Rebuild affected packages

   pnpm run packages:build
   

   For a full rebuild: pnpm run build:all

3. Test your changes

   • For fixtures, pick the name of the fixture and run the dev with workspace filtering.

     pnpm --filter fixture-basic dev
     

   • For the landing page (from the root directory)

     pnpm run lp:dev
     

4. Clean builds if needed

   pnpm run packages:clean # Cleans packages' node_modules and dist folders
   pnpm run lp:clean # Cleans the landing page
   pnpm run clean:root # Cleans root-level caches
   

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If you have read all the way here, you're already a champ! 🏆 Thank you.