Building from Source

Requirements

• Node.js 24 and npm
• Python (required by node-gyp)
• A C++17 toolchain supported by node-gyp

Platform toolchains:

Platform	Toolchain
Linux	build-essential, python3
macOS	Xcode Command Line Tools
Windows	Visual Studio Build Tools with the C++ workload

For Orchard Mobile you additionally need JDK 17 and Android SDK 36.

Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/SFG5453/Orchard.git
cd Orchard
npm ci

Use npm ci rather than npm install so you get the locked dependency tree.

Development

npm run dev

This builds the native audio analyzer, starts Vite on 127.0.0.1:5173, and launches Electron against the dev server. The two run concurrently and both stop together.

DevTools are available in non-packaged builds.

Build

npm run build

Runs build:native then build:frontend. To build only one half:

npm run build:native      # N-API audio analyzer only
npm run build:frontend    # Vue renderer only

Run the locally built app:

npm run start

Tests

npm test

Runs the whole suite with Node’s built-in test runner (node --test test/*.test.js).

The audio-specific subset, useful while working on the analysis or transition pipeline:

npm run test:native

That covers nativeAudioAnalysis, audioAnalysisService, smartCrossfadeAnalysis, queueTransitionSort, transitionPlanner, crossfadeMixer, autoCrossfade, subscribedArtists, and libraryCategory.

Packaging

Command	Result
npm run package	Unpacked Electron application directory
npm run make	Distributable packages for the current platform
npm run package:linux-system	Package against a system Electron on Linux
npm run make:mac	Cross-build a universal macOS ZIP from Linux

Packaging is configured in electron-builder.config.cjs.

Cross-compiling the native addon

npm run build:native:windows      # Windows addon from Linux
npm run build:native:macos:cross  # macOS addon from Linux

These back the cross-build scripts in scripts/.

Models

The beat-tracking model is fetched rather than committed:

npm run fetch:beat-model

See mobile/docs/BEAT_MODEL.md for details on the model and its quantization.

Artist packs

npm run build:artist-pack

Builds the official artist pack from workers/artist-packs/content/. See Artist Packs.

Workers

Each worker in workers/ is a separate npm project with its own wrangler.jsonc, secrets, and deploy command. See Cloudflare Workers.

Mobile

cd mobile/android
./gradlew assembleDebug
adb install -r app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Tests and lint:

./gradlew testDebugUnitTest assembleDebug lintDebug

Common build problems

node-gyp fails immediately. Almost always a missing Python or C++ toolchain. Confirm python3 --version and that a compiler is on PATH.

Native addon builds but does not load. Check that the addon architecture matches your Node and Electron architecture. Release CI includes an explicit architecture-verification step for arm64 Linux builds for exactly this reason.

Vite starts but Electron shows a blank window. The dev launcher waits on http://127.0.0.1:5173. If something else holds that port, the launcher attaches to the wrong server.

Tests pass locally but fail in CI. CI runs on Node 24 with a clean npm ci tree. Reproduce with rm -rf node_modules && npm ci.