GenerateSaaSQuick Start
From your license key to a running app you can build your SaaS on with AI.
This is the whole path: create your project, run it, then ask your AI agent to build your SaaS on top of it. GenerateSaaS is a pnpm + Turborepo monorepo - the Next.js frontend (apps/web-next) mounts the Hono backend (@repo/api) at /api, and one pnpm dev runs both. You need Node >=22 (pnpm is installed for you if missing).
Run it
Create your project
npx generatesaas@latest init <your-license-key>Use the key from your purchase. init walks you through your stack choices, then installs dependencies and writes a ready-to-run .env for you - no separate setup. Already generated your project? Skip to the next step.
Fill in your environment
Open the generated .env and set the values marked # TODO - the credentials for the providers you chose at init. Your database connection must be set before the dev server starts: DATABASE_URL for a self-hosted Postgres (already filled in if you chose the local default), or your managed-database credentials. Regenerate the auth secret any time with openssl rand -hex 32.
Start the dev stack
cd <your-project>
pnpm dev # http://localhost:3000Turborepo runs the Next.js app and the mounted @repo/api backend together. Open http://localhost:3000.
If you chose Docker-backed services at init (self-hosted Postgres, Redis, Mailpit, or Inngest), start them first with pnpm infra; with all-hosted providers there is no infra/ directory and you can skip it.
Build your SaaS
Open the project in your favourite AI coding agent - Claude Code, Cursor, or whatever you use - and ask it to build what you want. The generated AGENTS.md and the docs/ folder ship as context, so your agent understands the architecture, config, and features and builds on the boilerplate instead of reinventing it. That is the point: start from a complete SaaS foundation and describe the product you are building.
Local ports
After pnpm dev (plus pnpm infra for the Docker rows), these endpoints are live:
| Service | URL | When |
|---|---|---|
Next.js app (apps/web-next) | http://localhost:3000 | Always |
Backend (@repo/api, mounted at /api) | http://localhost:3000/api | Always |
| Inngest dev UI (background jobs) | http://127.0.0.1:8288 | Always |
| Mailpit web inbox (captured email) | http://localhost:8025 | smtp email provider |
| Mailpit SMTP | localhost:1025 | smtp email provider |
| Postgres | localhost:5432 | Self-hosted database |
| Redis | localhost:6379 | Self-hosted cache |
The frontend port resolves as WEB_PORT → PORT → 3000. The backend lives at the path in NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL; for a standalone backend instead, point it at port 3010 (apps/backend listens on API_PORT, default 3010) - see Deployment.
The Inngest dev server (UI at http://127.0.0.1:8288, matching INNGEST_BASE_URL) must be running or queued jobs never execute. pnpm dev:inngest always starts it; if infra/ ships, pnpm infra runs it as a container instead. See Background jobs.
Email in development
config.email.provider is whatever you picked at init. With smtp it targets Mailpit once you set SMTP_HOST=localhost and SMTP_PORT=1025 in .env; Mailpit captures every outgoing message - SMTP on 1025, web inbox on http://localhost:8025. With ses or resend set that provider's credentials instead. See Email.