If you are interested in contributing, or want to know how development works, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)
The easiest way to get Actual running is to use the [actual-server](https://github.com/actualbudget/actual-server) project. That is the server for syncing changes across devices, and it comes with the latest version of Actual. The server will provide both the web project and a server for syncing.
You should deploy the server somewhere so you can access your data from anywhere. See instructions on the [actual-server](https://github.com/actualbudget/actual-server) repo.
This will give you a fully local web app without a server. This npm package is the `packages/desktop-client` package in this repo built for production:
```
yarn add @actual-app/web
```
Now you need to serve the files in `node_modules/@actual-app/web/build`. One way to do it:
```
cd node_modules/@actual-app/web/build
npx http-server .
```
Navigate to http://localhost:8080 and you should see Actual.
If you want to build the latest version, see [releasing.md](https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/blob/master/docs/releasing.md). It provides instructions for building this code into the same artifacts that come from npm.
Both the electron and web app can started with a single command. When running in development, it will store data in a `data` directory in the root of the `actual` directory.
First, make sure to run `yarn install` to install all dependencies.
In the root of the project:
```
yarn start # Run the electron app
yarn start:browser # Run the web app
```
## Code structure
The app is split up into a few packages:
* loot-core - The core application that runs on any platform
* loot-design - The generic design components that make up the UI
