CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to SqlWolf

Prerequisites

1. Install Node.js and Yarn

You will need Node.js 20 and Yarn.

npm install -g yarn

2. Install Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 (C++ compiler)

The project has native modules that require compilation. Install VS 2022 Build Tools via winget:

winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools

Then add the C++ workload (required — without this, yarn install will fail):

Start-Process "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vs_installer.exe" -ArgumentList "modify --installPath ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\BuildTools"" --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --includeRecommended --passive" -Verb RunAs -Wait

Note: If you have VS 2025 Build Tools (\18\BuildTools) already installed, node-gyp won't recognise it — you still need the 2022 Build Tools alongside it.

Install Dependencies

From the repo root:

yarn install

Running the App

yarn bks:dev from the root may not launch the Electron window reliably on Windows. Instead, run from apps/studio:

cd apps/studio
node ./esbuild.mjs watch

For hot reload on the frontend, open a second terminal and run:

cd apps/studio
yarn dev:vite

SqlWolf is an Electron desktop app — it opens as a desktop window, not in a browser.