Get the source

This page is for anyone who wants Lolly running from its source code, to build, test or change the code. At the end you have a checkout with its dependencies installed and the web app open at http://localhost:5173.

Everything you need is public. Lolly is one repository, and a plain clone builds every app, the docs and the services.

What you need first

Node.js 22.18 or later, or 24 or later. The repository's scripts run TypeScript directly (node scripts/foo.ts), which needs Node's built-in type stripping. Node 20 and early 22 releases fail at pnpm install. .nvmrc pins Node 26, so nvm install in the checkout picks the right one.
pnpm. npm install --global pnpm installs it, and package.json pins the exact version the repository uses.
git.

On macOS and openSUSE the setup script below installs git and Node for you if they are missing or too old.

Clone and set up

Pick one of two clone commands. Both give you a complete working tree that builds; they differ only in how much history arrives up front.

git clone https://github.com/lolly-tools/lolly.git                       # full clone
git clone --filter=blob:none https://github.com/lolly-tools/lolly.git    # partial clone

Full clone

Downloads every file in every commit.
Old history reads offline.
The simple path, and always works.

Partial clone

Downloads the full commit list, but old file contents only when you ask for them.
Reading an old commit (git log -p on an old path, or checking one out) needs a connection.
Day-to-day work on the current tree is fully offline.

Then, from the new lolly directory:

./setup.sh           # macOS and openSUSE: installs git and Node if needed, then pnpm install
pnpm run dev:web     # the web app at http://localhost:5173

./setup.sh detects your package manager (Homebrew or zypper) and reports the content profile it resolved. It is safe to run again at any time, after a git pull or to repair a half-finished checkout. Its flags:

--profile <name> sets this checkout's default content profile by writing .lolly-profile. Any profile in profiles.json works, such as lolly-start or lolly-demo.
--skip-node leaves Node to you. With nvm, run nvm install in the checkout (it reads .nvmrc), then ./setup.sh --skip-node.
--suse also mounts the private SUSE pack (see the private pack below).
--help lists everything.

On another system, or if you would rather run the steps yourself, pnpm install after the clone does the same job. Its preinstall check confirms that at least one content profile is complete on disk.

Clone over SSH so push access needs no change later

git -c url."git@github.com:".insteadOf=https://github.com/ \
    clone git@github.com:lolly-tools/lolly.git && \
cd lolly && \
git config url."git@github.com:".insteadOf https://github.com/ && \
pnpm install

url.insteadOf rewrites the HTTPS address to SSH. It is safe for everyone because the repository is public, and the day you get push access nothing else needs to change. Drop both git config parts to authenticate over HTTPS instead. Write access is enforced by the host when you push, not by the checkout, so maintainers and readers set up the same way.

Check the result

pnpm run profile   # which content profile this checkout resolves to, and why
pnpm run cli       # the tools that profile can see
pnpm run doctor    # a read-only readiness report, with the repair command for anything missing

A public clone resolves to lolly-start, the blank brand, which is also the profile CI builds against. lolly.tools ships lolly-demo. Profiles, brands and tool configuration explains how the profile is chosen.

You do not need the desktop or mobile apps' own dependencies unless you work on those apps. They are separate pnpm projects (pnpm -C shells/tauri-desktop install, pnpm -C shells/tauri-mobile install), so skip them until you need them.

What a clone leaves out

Two things never download with a clone, whichever command you use:

brands/suse, the private SUSE brand pack. It is marked update = none, so a public clone falls back to lolly-start and everything still builds.
shells/web/public/models, the on-device AI models. The app fetches them when they are first used.

To bundle the models into your own build instead, run pnpm run models:vendor first. It is opt-in and never run by install or CI. It downloads about 1.2 GB from each model family's pinned upstream, checks every file's hash before writing and skips files already present, so a second run fetches only what is missing. The singing models (about 2.8 GB more) come only when you ask for them with --only=sing. --only=kokoro,matte fetches a subset and --list shows the families. The files stay gitignored.

Why the repository is large

Most of the weight is history, not the working tree: catalog images such as tool previews and share cards re-rendered over time, the docs screenshots re-shot whenever the interface changes and the web app's fonts and binary assets. In October 2026, budget roughly 1.2 GB of download and 2.6 GB on disk once node_modules is installed. Both grow with the history, which is why the partial clone saves the most.

If something fails

pnpm install stops with a syntax error in a .ts file. Your Node is too old for type stripping. Check node -v against 22.18 or 24. With Homebrew, node@22 is keg-only: add export PATH="$(brew --prefix node@22)/bin:$PATH" to your shell profile.
brands/suse will not clone. The pack is private. Drop --suse; you land on lolly-start and everything still builds and runs.
A SUSE tool edit does not show up. brands/suse is a separate repository, so the edit needs a commit inside it and a pointer commit here (see the private pack). A community tool is a plain directory in this repository and needs one commit.
Anything else. Run pnpm run doctor. It checks the checkout without changing it and prints the exact command for each repair.

After you edit a community tool's tool.json, rebuild every profile's catalog with the :all commands in Publish and localize a tool.

The private SUSE pack

brands/suse holds the SUSE tools and catalog, including licensed fonts and music, so it lives in a private repository mounted as a git submodule. With access, opt in:

git submodule update --init --checkout brands/suse
LOLLY_PROFILE=suse pnpm run dev:web

./setup.sh --suse mounts it in the same run. suse is the default in profiles.json, so a checkout with the pack resolves to suse.

A change inside brands/suse needs two commits: one inside the submodule, then one here that moves the recorded pointer. Push the submodule first, or this repository points at a commit nobody else can fetch. Every other directory takes a plain commit.