Getting started

This guide takes you from a clean checkout to a running ReliaForge instance, two working example plugins, and a scaffold for your first plugin. If you only want to see the interface, open the hosted demo instead.

Requirements

• Python 3.11 or newer for the backend;
• Node.js 20 or newer and npm 10 or newer for frontend development;
• Git.

1. Start the backend

Clone the backend and create an isolated environment:

git clone https://github.com/SajoLuo/reliaforge-backend.git
cd reliaforge-backend
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
cp .env.example .env
reliaforge

On Windows PowerShell, activate the environment with .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1.

The development server binds to 127.0.0.1 by default.

2. Check what the platform loaded

Keep the backend running. In another terminal, query its status, plugin list, and example APIs:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/status
curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/plugins
curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/plugins/demo/greeting
curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/plugins/runbook/preview

The first two requests show backend status and loaded plugins. The other requests call the plugins' own services: demo returns a greeting, and runbook returns a text preview using that greeting. They demonstrate two services and a dependency; neither runs external commands or changes systems.

3. Create a plugin from the scaffold

Stop the backend with Ctrl+C, then generate and load a plugin:

reliaforge-scaffold sample_tool --destination ./local-plugins
RELIAFORGE_PLUGIN_PATHS=./local-plugins reliaforge

In PowerShell, replace the last line with:

$env:RELIAFORGE_PLUGIN_PATHS = "./local-plugins"
reliaforge

The command creates local-plugins/sample_tool/. The path variable points to local-plugins, the directory containing your plugins.

Keep this backend running and call the new plugin from the other terminal:

curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/plugins/sample_tool/message

Expected response:

{"message": "Generated plugin is running", "plugin_id": "sample_tool"}

You now have a working plugin. Next, follow Develop a plugin to add a function that looks up a service's owning team and an API that calls it.

4. Add the console when you need it

Open another terminal in the parent of reliaforge-backend, then run:

git clone https://github.com/SajoLuo/reliaforge-frontend.git
cd reliaforge-frontend
cp .env.example .env
npm ci
npm run dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:5530 to see the plugin list. Browser configuration is visible to visitors; keep API keys and proxy secrets in the backend or proxy.

5. Choose your next step

Experience	Data source	Can start or stop plugins	Best for
Hosted demo	Saved example data	No	Looking around before installing anything
Local development	Your local Python process	Yes, in development mode	Building and testing plugins
Production deployment	Your team's backend	Yes, after authentication	Running the team's plugins

Before a production deployment, read the security model and console deployment guidance.