Windows 10

Setting up Rocket.Chat on Windows requires using the WSL2. Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) is a complete architectural overhaul of Linux on Windows, which installs an entire Linux kernel (built by Microsoft) alongside the classic Windows kernel. The Linux and Windows kernels can now share system resources, such as memory and CPU, at a previously impossible granularity.

Preparation steps

Software requirements

• Windows 10, version 2004 or above.

• Install and configure WSL 2 following Microsoft documentation. The default Linux distribution to be installed is Ubuntu.

• Download and install the latest Linux kernel updates.

Machine requirements

To set up Rocket.Chat development environment, you'll require a Windows machine that meets the following minimum specifications:

• 12 GB of RAM (16+ GB highly recommended)

• Four or more cores on CPU (at least 3 GHz boosted, 4.2 GHz or higher recommended)

• 80 GB of available fast SSD storage (PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD recommended)

Setting up a Rocket.Chat development environment on Windows

• Open the Ubuntu WSL 2 shell and update the distro by running this command:

 sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

• Install the necessary build tools:

sudo apt-get install build-essential python3 make g++

• Install NodeJs 14.x (LTS) either manually or using a tool like nvm or volta.

Kindly check the releases to see the required NodeJS version for Rocket.Chat.

• Install Meteor with this command:

curl https://install.meteor.com/ | sh

Occasionally, you might have to install a previous Meteor release. Ensure to verify the required Meteor version for Rocket.Chat from the .meteor/release file.

Alternatively, Install a specific Meteor version using the command below, replacing x.x with the version number:

curl https://install.meteor.com/?release=x.x | sh

• Install the yarn package manager with this command.

npm install --global yarn

• Fork the Rocket.Chat repository on GitHub.

To install Git on Linux, see the official guide.

• Open the WSL 2 shell, navigate into the (~/home/yourusername) directory. Clone the forked repository by running the command below:

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/Rocket.Chat.git

Navigating into the specified directory above is necessary, otherwise, MongoDB won't start

• Navigate into the Rocket.Chat directory and install all the dependencies by running these commands:

cd Rocket.Chat
yarn

During the build, you may notice warnings about peer or transitive dependencies. These are typically safe to ignore unless you are developing the specific features or modules that require them.

• When completed, build and run the server by executing this command:

yarn dsv

The first build can take ten or more minutes, and you may see various warnings or minor errors. Subsequent dev builds will take lesser time.

A successful running server will open up port 3000 on your machine where you can access Rocket.Chat using any browser or the Rocket.Chat client app through http://localhost:3000

Editing Rocket.Chat files on Windows

On Windows 10, the recommended IDE to use is Visual Studio Code. Install Visual Studio Code from Microsoft’s store and ensure you install the VS Code extension named Remote - WSL. Optionally, you can install the Windows Terminal extension.

To edit Rocket.Chat files,

• Open the cloned repository folder in your IDE.

• When you make changes to Rocket.Chat the server will automatically rebuild.

• Sometimes, changes can shut down the server. If that happens, run yarn dsv again.

Troubleshooting

For more troubleshooting guides, check out development environment troubleshooting.

Now that your development server is running, you're welcome to contribute to the Rocket.Chat server! See participate in Rocket.Chat development to learn more about Rocket.Chat contributions.