Installation

Run ChungusHub from source or build a portable copy.

Prerequisites

Bun, and nothing else: the server runs on Bun’s standard library alone and the database is SQLite.

Windows

powershell -c "irm bun.sh/install.ps1 | iex"

Run from source

1. Clone and install

   git clone https://github.com/patcireamo/ChungusHub.git
   cd ChungusHub
   bun install --frozen-lockfile
   
2. Start it

   Double-click start.bat on Windows or start.command on macOS. On Linux, run ./dev.sh.

   One launcher runs both halves, the client on port 1420 and the server on 4242. Open http://localhost:1420 once it is up. Q quits both. B rebuilds the client into build/, which is what port 4242 serves.

Build a portable copy

bun run package

This writes dist/ChungusHub-portable/: one executable with Bun embedded, the built client, and the presets, skills and backgrounds the app ships with. It serves everything from port 4242, keeps its data beside the executable, and opens a browser on start.

The executable is not signed by a developer certificate, so Windows and macOS both stop it the first time. The README.txt in that folder says how to get past each.

Your data

Everything you create lives in user-data/: the database, uploaded images, presets, and the password hash if you set one. Back that folder up and you have backed up the whole workspace. Snapshots land in backups/ beside it. Nothing leaves the machine except the provider requests you configure.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	What it does
CHUNGUS_PORT	4242	Port the server listens on
CHUNGUS_HOST	0.0.0.0	Interface to bind once Network Access is on. Loopback either way while it is off
CHUNGUS_DATA_DIR	user-data next to the app	Where the database and uploads live
CHUNGUS_ALLOWLIST	empty	Comma-separated IPs allowed to connect
CHUNGUS_NO_OPEN	off	Set to 1 to stop the portable build opening a browser
CHUNGUS_BACKUP_DIR	backups beside the data dir	Where snapshots are stored
CHUNGUS_SKIP_UPGRADE_BACKUP	off	Set to 1 to skip the snapshot taken before a database upgrade

A fresh install listens on this computer only: the port is opened on loopback and nothing on your network can see the workspace. To use it from a phone or another machine, turn on Network Access under Settings → Security, then choose who gets in with the IP allowlist and an optional password.