Quick Start

Welcome to Booky — a production-ready appointment & booking marketplace built with Next.js 16 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript, PostgreSQL and Tailwind CSS. This page gets you from a fresh download to a running site in about 15 minutes.

Booky ships as a vertical pack product: the engine is generic, and a pack supplies the vocabulary, fields, filters, master data and demo content for one business. The pack included is Healthcare — practitioners publish consultations, set weekly availability, and patients book an appointment slot and pay. Switching the pack changes every noun on the site (consultation → class, practitioner → chef, patient → guest) without touching engine code.

New here? Read Product Overview for the big picture, then come back to install.

What you need

Node.js 20+ and npm
A PostgreSQL database (we recommend Neon — Booky uses the @neondatabase/serverless driver)
About 15 minutes

Install in 4 steps

Terminal

# 1. Install dependencies
npm install

# 2. Create your environment file
#    Create .env.local with at least DATABASE_URL (JWT_SECRET / SECRET_KEY
#    are auto-generated by the install wizard's database step if unset).

# 3. Initialise the database (schema + seed)
npm run db:init

# 4. Start the dev server
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000. The first run launches the install wizard at /install — it walks you through the database check, admin account, and store settings.

Load the demo

Terminal

# Apply the vertical pack: master data, categories, fields, filters, copy
npx tsx scripts/apply-vertical.ts healthcare --yes

# Seed demo practitioners, consultations, availability, bookings and reviews
npm run vertical:demo

# Subscription plans for the demo hosts (cascades off hosts, so re-run after a re-seed)
npx tsx scripts/seed-plans.ts --hosts

# Storefront pages (privacy, cookies, terms, refunds, about) + notification templates
npx tsx scripts/seed-site-pages.ts
npx tsx scripts/seed-message-templates.ts

Demo logins — password Password@1:

Role	Email
Practitioner (host)	`host1@bookydemo.com` … `host5@bookydemo.com`
Patient (customer)	`guest1@bookydemo.com` … `guest5@bookydemo.com`

The two booking mechanics

Mode	How availability works	Used by
`slot`	The host sets weekly hours (`availability_rules`); slots are expanded on read and only become a row when booked.	Healthcare, and any appointment business
`seat`	The host publishes dated sittings (`experience_sessions`) with a seat count.	Classes, tours, events

The active pack declares which one it uses; the booking engine, calendar and checkout follow.

Core environment variables

Variable	Purpose
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string
`JWT_SECRET`	Signs admin/customer session tokens
`SECRET_KEY`	AES-256-GCM key that encrypts stored integration secrets
`LICENSE_SERVER_URL`	License server (defaults to `https://creative-cape.com`)

See the Installation Guide for the full list and the License Guide for activation.

Where to go next

Installation Guide — detailed setup
Deployment Guide — ship to production
Admin Guide — run your marketplace day-to-day
Add-on Development Guide — extend Booky
Customization Guide — change the vertical's fields, filters and vocabulary