Get Started in Local

Run three SlimFaas nodes, four HTTP functions and jobs directly on your computer, then explore them in the dashboard. Choose how to start:

Run from a release bundle: download the precompiled demo; no .NET or Node.js installation is required.
Run from a Git clone: build with npm and dotnet to test main, a feature branch or your own changes.

Both paths open the same dashboard and lead into the Guided Tour. Docker and Kubernetes are not required.

Run from a release bundle

The bundle includes SlimFaas and the sample applications, ready to execute.

Release availability: this installation path requires a release containing SlimFaas-Local-<rid>.zip assets and their .sha256 files. It becomes available when the first release with these new bundles is published. Older SlimFaas-<rid>.zip archives contain the server alone. Until the complete bundles are published, run from a Git clone.

Before you start

Use a Bash-compatible terminal with curl, unzip, and either sha256sum or shasum. On macOS these tools are normally present. On Linux, install missing tools through your distribution's package manager. On Windows, use Git Bash or WSL for installation; the extracted bundle also includes a PowerShell launcher.

For a native Windows demo, use Git Bash and select win-x64; you do not need WSL. Git Bash includes the installer tools, but the terminal guided tour also needs jq installed separately and available on PATH. Check with command -v curl unzip sha256sum jq. Download jq from its official releases if it is missing, or use Bruno Desktop for the tour.

System	Bundle	Notes
Linux x64	`linux-x64`	glibc distribution; Alpine/musl is not supported
Linux ARM64	`linux-arm64`	glibc distribution, for example Ubuntu on ARM
macOS Intel	`osx-x64`	Use an Intel terminal/process architecture
macOS Apple Silicon	`osx-arm64`	Use a native ARM64 terminal to avoid selecting the Intel archive under Rosetta
Windows x64	`win-x64`	Git Bash installer, then Bash or PowerShell launcher
Windows with WSL	Linux bundle matching WSL	Run the complete demo inside WSL

The bundled sample applications include their own .NET runtime. Standard OS libraries are still needed (including ICU, OpenSSL and the C/C++ runtime on Linux); a missing-library error identifies what to install. Linux release builds use Ubuntu 24.04. The installer does not install system packages or request administrator privileges.

Keep ports 30020–30023, 3262–3264 and 5000–5999 available. Stop other SlimFaas demos first because their ports overlap. Git, Docker and Kubernetes are not required.

Download and validate

Run these commands in the directory where you want the demo installed:

curl -fsSLo install-local-demo.sh https://slimfaas.dev/downloads/install-local-demo.sh
sh install-local-demo.sh
cd slimfaas-demo
./start.sh --validate

The installer detects your OS and architecture, resolves the latest stable release once, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and validates the extracted manifest. It installs into ./slimfaas-demo without changing your shell profile or system tools. The archive and its checksum come from the same pinned release.

To choose a particular release or installation directory:

# Replace the tag with one listed on the Releases page and containing local bundles.
sh install-local-demo.sh --version YOUR_RELEASE_TAG --directory "./my SlimFaas demo"

Find available bundles on GitHub Releases. Reinstalling the same version/platform preserves all existing files and state. To try another version, stop the old demo and choose a new directory; the installer refuses to overwrite an existing different installation.

Alternatively, download the ZIP and its matching .sha256 file directly from the release, verify the checksum, and extract them into a new directory. On macOS/Linux, restore executable permissions if your extraction tool did not preserve them:

chmod +x start.sh runtime/SlimFaas functions/fibonacci/Fibonacci jobs/fibonacci-batch/FibonacciBatch

Start the demo

From the extracted demo directory:

./start.sh

On Windows in PowerShell:

.\start.ps1 -Validate
.\start.ps1

Leave this terminal running. The launcher validates the base manifest and its precompiled overlay, then starts three SlimFaas nodes. The four functions wake on demand and can scale to zero. No package restore or application compilation happens at startup.

The bundle contains runtime/, functions/fibonacci/, jobs/fibonacci-batch/, demo/bruno-slimfaas-demo/, and the two manifests. The overlay replaces source-build commands with packaged executables, configures a longer job retention for observation and disables automatic sample schedules; the tour creates its own schedules.

Run from a Git clone

Use this path to try a branch before it has a release, or to develop the dashboard and runtime together. Install Git, the .NET 10 SDK (10.0.103 or a newer .NET 10 SDK, as selected by global.json), and Node.js 24 or later with npm. Keep ports 30020–30023, 3262–3264 and 5000–5999 available.

On Windows, run dotnet --version and node --version in the Git Bash terminal used for the build. Older Node versions cannot run all dashboard and documentation checks. Install jq separately for the terminal tour; using the precompiled bundle does not require Node or the .NET SDK.

Clone the branch you want to test. Replace main with its name to build a feature branch:

git clone --branch main https://github.com/SlimPlanet/SlimFaas.git
cd SlimFaas

From the repository root, install the dashboard dependencies, build its assets and build SlimFaas:

npm ci --ignore-scripts --prefix src/SlimFaas/ClientApp
npm run build --prefix src/SlimFaas/ClientApp
dotnet build src/SlimFaas -p:SkipClientAppBuild=true

The npm build writes the dashboard to src/SlimFaas/wwwroot. SkipClientAppBuild=true avoids rebuilding those assets during the .NET build. No global SlimFaas installation is needed: the following commands run the runtime from this checkout.

Validate the manifest, then start the demo:

dotnet run --project src/SlimFaas --no-build -- local validate -f ../../slimfaas.local.yaml
dotnet run --project src/SlimFaas --no-build -- local up -f ../../slimfaas.local.yaml

These single-line commands also work in PowerShell. Run them from the repository root; the manifest path is relative to the src/SlimFaas working directory used by dotnet run. Leave local up running. The source manifest starts three nodes and builds sample functions and jobs with dotnet when they launch, so the first request can take longer. It also enables the sample job schedules configured in slimfaas.local.yaml.

Open the dashboard and run the checks below. To test a different branch or new edits, stop the demo with Ctrl+C, switch branches if needed, rerun the npm/.NET build commands, and start it again. --no-build uses the last build, so restart after rebuilding to see your changes. For overlays and IDE debugging, see the Local Mode reference.

Open the dashboard

Open http://127.0.0.1:30020/. This is the shared entrypoint for the dashboard, application requests and WebSocket connections. Ports 30021–30023 belong to individual nodes.

In another terminal:

export BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:30020
curl -i "$BASE_URL/ready"
curl -fsS "$BASE_URL/status-functions"
curl -fsS "$BASE_URL/function/fibonacci1/hello/local"

Expect 200 READY, four functions in the JSON list, and Hello local!. Retry readiness while the cluster starts. In Overview, find fibonacci1 through fibonacci4. A successful synchronous request wakes its target and waits for readiness.

The demo exposes the data APIs for local exploration and includes the fibonacci and fibonacci5 job configurations. Local processes share the host network and have no container resource isolation.

Discover the features

Continue to the Guided Tour, keeping the dashboard open. Run its commands from the extracted demo directory or the repository root: both contain the same demo/ paths.

Open demo/bruno-slimfaas-demo in Bruno Desktop and select Local. This does not require Node.js. Alternatively, use the cURL commands with jq. The optional automated Bruno CLI requires Node on the machine running that test tool, independently of SlimFaas.

For developing your own functions, source builds, overlays and IDE debugging, use the Local Mode reference.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
Release has no downloadable local bundle	Choose a release containing `SlimFaas-Local-*` and its checksum. The server-only archive cannot supply the demo functions.
SHA-256 mismatch	Retry the download from the selected release. The installer stops before installing anything.
Destination already exists	Reuse the same installed version, or choose a new `--directory` for another release.
Address already in use	Stop the conflicting demo, or supply a manifest overlay with different ports. Update callback URLs if changing the entrypoint.
Function cannot start	Read its log in `.slimfaas/slimfaas-demo/logs`; verify executable permissions, platform and OS libraries.
macOS blocks an executable	Use the normal macOS Privacy & Security approval for a release you trust. The installer does not disable OS protection.
UI fails to load	Use the entrypoint port. A bundle must include `runtime/wwwroot`; in a Git checkout, rerun the npm build and the .NET build before restarting.
Some replicas are down	Idle scale-to-zero is expected. Click Wake Up or send a synchronous request.
`404` for `fibonacci4`	This function is private; caller classification differs on a shared host network. See the tour's private-access exercise.

Stop and reset

Press Ctrl+C in the terminal running the demo. SlimFaas stops its managed processes. Logs and persistent state remain below .slimfaas/slimfaas-demo inside the bundle directory or Git checkout. Restart with the same command to keep that state.

With a release bundle, to deliberately discard this demo's state and start again:

./start.sh --clean

PowerShell equivalent for a bundle: .\start.ps1 -Clean. From a Git checkout, use:

dotnet run --project src/SlimFaas --no-build -- local up -f ../../slimfaas.local.yaml --clean

To remove the demo, stop it and remove only its installation directory or checkout; no system service or global runtime was installed by these commands.