(contributing-dev-setup)=

# Setting up Development Environment

The easiest & safest way to develop & test TLJH is with [Docker](https://www.docker.com/).

1. Install Docker Community Edition by following the instructions on
   [their website](https://www.docker.com/community-edition).

2. Clone the [git repo](https://github.com/jupyterhub/the-littlest-jupyterhub) (or your fork of it).

3. Build a docker image that has a functional systemd in it.

   ```bash
   docker build -t tljh-systemd . -f integration-tests/Dockerfile
   ```

4. Run a docker container with the image in the background, while bind mounting
   your TLJH repository under `/srv/src`.

   ```bash
   docker run \
     --privileged \
     --detach \
     --name=tljh-dev \
     --publish 12000:80 \
     --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)",target=/srv/src \
     tljh-systemd
   ```

5. Get a shell inside the running docker container.

   ```bash
   docker exec -it tljh-dev /bin/bash
   ```

6. Run the bootstrapper from inside the container (see step above):
   The container image is already set up to default to a `dev` install, so
   it'll install from your local repo rather than from github.

   ```console
   python3 /srv/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py --admin admin
   ```

   Or, if you would like to setup the admin's password during install,
   you can use this command (replace "admin" with the desired admin username
   and "password" with the desired admin password):

   ```console
   python3 /srv/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py --admin admin:password
   ```

   The primary hub environment will also be in your PATH already for convenience.

7. You should be able to access the JupyterHub from your browser now at
   [http://localhost:12000](http://localhost:12000). Congratulations, you are
   set up to develop TLJH!

8. Make some changes to the repository. You can test easily depending on what
   you changed.

   - If you changed the `bootstrap/bootstrap.py` script or any of its dependencies,
     you can test it by running `python3 /srv/src/bootstrap/bootstrap.py`.
   - If you changed the `tljh/installer.py` code (or any of its dependencies),
     you can test it by running `python3 -m tljh.installer`.
   - If you changed `tljh/jupyterhub_config.py`, `tljh/configurer.py`,
     `/opt/tljh/config/` or any of their dependencies, you only need to
     restart jupyterhub for them to take effect. `tljh-config reload hub`
     should do that.

[](/troubleshooting/logs) has information on looking at various logs in the container
to debug issues you might have.