InvokeAI/docs/contributing/dev-environment.md

Dev Environment

To make changes to Invoke's backend, frontend, or documentation, you'll need to set up a dev environment.

If you just want to use Invoke, you should use the installer.

!!! info "Why do I need the frontend toolchain?"

The repo doesn't contain a build of the frontend. You'll be responsible for rebuilding it every time you pull in new changes, or run it in dev mode (which incurs a substantial performance penalty).

!!! warning

Invoke uses a SQLite database. When you run the application as a dev install, you accept responsibility for your database. This means making regular backups (especially before pulling) and/or fixing it yourself in the event that a PR introduces a schema change.

If you don't need to persist your db, you can use an ephemeral in-memory database by setting `use_memory_db: true` in your `invokeai.yaml` file. You'll also want to set `scan_models_on_startup: true` so that your models are registered on startup.

Setup

1. Run through the requirements.

2. Fork and clone the InvokeAI repo.

3. Create an directory for user data (images, models, db, etc). This is typically at ~/invokeai, but if you already have a non-dev install, you may want to create a separate directory for the dev install.

4. Create a python virtual environment inside the directory you just created:

   python3 -m venv .venv --prompt InvokeAI-Dev
   

5. Activate the venv (you'll need to do this every time you want to run the app):

   source .venv/bin/activate
   

6. Install the repo as an editable install:

   pip install -e ".[dev,test,xformers]" --use-pep517 --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu121
   

   Refer to the manual installation instructions for more determining the correct install options. xformers is optional, but dev and test are not.

7. Install the frontend dev toolchain:

   • nodejs (recommend v20 LTS)
   • pnpm (must be v8 - not v9!)

8. Do a production build of the frontend:

   cd PATH_TO_INVOKEAI_REPO/invokeai/frontend/web
   pnpm i
   pnpm build
   

9. Start the application:

   cd PATH_TO_INVOKEAI_REPO
   python scripts/invokeai-web.py
   

10. Access the UI at localhost:9090.

Updating the UI

You'll need to run pnpm build every time you pull in new changes. Another option is to skip the build and instead run the app in dev mode:

pnpm dev

This starts a dev server at localhost:5173, which you will use instead of localhost:9090.

The dev mode is substantially slower than the production build but may be more convenient if you just need to test things out.

Documentation

The documentation is built with mkdocs. To preview it locally, you need a additional set of packages installed.

# after activating the venv
pip install -e ".[docs]"

Then, you can start a live docs dev server, which will auto-refresh when you edit the docs:

mkdocs serve

On macOS and Linux, there is a make target for this:

make docs