Getting Started

Getting Started

For contributors and agents setting up the Vellum repo.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ and npm
• The ACP adapter CLIs on PATH, signed in:
  • claude-code-acp (Claude Code / Agent-SDK on your Claude plan)
  • codex-acp (Codex on your ChatGPT plan)
• No ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / OPENAI_API_KEY needed — and none should be used (see ACP-Integration).

Setup

git clone https://github.com/dkritarth/Vellum.git vellum
cd vellum
npm install
npm run dev        # electron-vite dev with hot reload

Other scripts: npm run typecheck, npm test (vitest), npm run build, npm run dist (electron-builder package).

Layout

See Architecture for the full map. Backend logic in core/, Electron glue in electron/, React UI in src/, runtime data in data/ (gitignored, starts empty).

Working style

• Caveman full for prose; normal for code/commits/PRs (.claude/skills/caveman).
• Test-first (tdd skill). Design with codebase-design / domain-modeling.
• GitHub Issues are sole backlog. Work only issue labeled status:ready; never select work from these historical wiki phase pages.
• Open focused PR against master with Closes #<issue>.
• UI work requires live Electron clicks/typing, visible-state and console checks, and screenshot evidence when tooling permits. Tests alone are insufficient.
• Codex ACP is validation priority. Run npm run smoke:acp -- codex for relevant work; mocks never count as proof of signed-in subscription path.

The old CLI tool

The previous Python CLI prototype (ingest/synthesize/citations + FastAPI browse UI) is preserved on the archive/cli-prototype branch. It is not part of Vellum; consult it only for reference.