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Local Machine Setup - Windows

This guide is intended for Windows users. For the best experience, use WSL2 since pure Windows is not fully supported.
Requirements:
  • Node.JS (v20 recommended) via WSL2
  • pnpm
  • Docker (ensure Docker Desktop is installed with WSL2 integration enabled)
Steps (Using WSL2):
  1. Open your WSL2 terminal and clone the project: 
    git clone https://github.com/formbricks/formbricks && cd formbricks
  2. Setup NodeJS with nvm in WSL2: 
    nvm install && nvm use
  3. Install packages using pnpm: 
    pnpm install
  4. Create a .env file: 
    cp .env.example .env
  5. Generate & set secret values (Linux commands work in WSL2): 
    sed -i '/^ENCRYPTION_KEY=/c\ENCRYPTION_KEY='$(openssl rand -hex 32) .env
sed -i '/^NEXTAUTH_SECRET=/c\NEXTAUTH_SECRET='$(openssl rand -hex 32) .env
sed -i '/^CRON_SECRET=/c\CRON_SECRET='$(openssl rand -hex 32) .env
  6. Generate the Next.js AGENTS.md file (optional, for AI-assisted development): This step generates an AGENTS.md file at the repository root that provides Next.js documentation context for AI coding assistants (e.g. Cursor, GitHub Copilot). It runs npx @next/codemod agents-md under the hood. Re-run it whenever you upgrade Next.js. 
    pnpm agents:update
  7. Start the development setup: 
    pnpm go
Access Formbricks at http://localhost:3000.
If you run into conflicts, ensure any local services (like PostgreSQL) are stopped.