Run from source

This page lists every supported way to run Lumen today (pre-v0.1). Pick the one that matches what you’re working on.

Mode	Use when	Pros	Cons
Go-only (no web)	You’re hacking on hub or agent and don’t care about the UI	Fastest loop (no node), go run only	No web at /; you’ll see the fallback page
Go + Vite dev	You’re working on the React UI	HMR, source maps, fast iteration	Three terminals
Embedded build	You want the “one binary” experience	Single artifact, prod-like	Slowest loop — rebuild on every web change
Docker Compose	You want to demo the full stack or build for CI	One command, isolated, distroless	Slower start (first build ~3 min)

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+ (go version) — floored by pressly/goose v3 (added in Phase 2 storage).
• Node 20+ and pnpm 9+ (pnpm --version) — only for modes that touch the web bundle.
• Docker with Compose v2 (docker compose version) — only for the Compose mode.
• Git to clone.

Clone and configure

git clone https://github.com/quanla93/lumen
cd lumen
cp .env.example .env

.env is gitignored. Edit it freely; both binaries pick env vars up from the file at startup. See the env reference at the bottom.

First-time setup (auth flow)

The hub validates each agent’s Bearer token against the hosts table. For a brand-new hub:

1. Start the hub (any mode below).
2. Open http://localhost:8090 (or :5173 for Vite dev).
3. Sign in. Two options:
   • Seeded admin — if LUMEN_HUB_ADMIN_USERNAME + _PASSWORD are set in .env, the hub created that user on first boot (look for seed admin created in the log). Just log in.
   • Register first admin via UI — if the seed vars are empty, the UI shows a register form while the users table is empty.
4. Go to Settings → Hosts, type a host name, click Create.
5. Copy the lum_… token shown once (paired with a ready-to-paste .env snippet). The hub stores only its SHA-256 hash; if you lose it, rotate.
6. Paste LUMEN_AGENT_TOKEN=lum_… (and LUMEN_HUB_URL, LUMEN_AGENT_HOST) into the agent’s .env, then start the agent.

The dashboard shows the host live within one tick. The agent’s LUMEN_AGENT_HOST is overridden by the token’s host name server-side, so a leaked token can’t be used to spoof a different host.

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1. Go-only

Fastest loop for backend work. The hub will serve a “web not embedded” fallback page at / — that’s expected.

# Terminal 1
go run ./cmd/lumen-hub

# Terminal 2
go run ./cmd/lumen-agent

Verify:

curl http://localhost:8090/healthz
# {"status":"ok"}

You should see the agent log ingested cpu_pct=... lines every LUMEN_AGENT_INTERVAL (default 5s) and the hub log a POST /api/ingest 204 for each.

2. Go + Vite dev

The right mode for UI iteration. Vite dev server runs on :5173 and proxies /api/* and /healthz to the Go hub on :8090.

pnpm install   # once

# Terminal 1
go run ./cmd/lumen-hub

# Terminal 2
go run ./cmd/lumen-agent

# Terminal 3
pnpm --filter web dev

Open http://localhost:5173 — you’ll see the live CPU table, updated on every WebSocket tick (LUMEN_HUB_STREAM_INTERVAL, default 5s). React HMR works; edit web/src/App.tsx and the browser updates without reload.

3. Embedded build (1 binary)

Closest to what the v0.1 release will look like. Builds the web bundle, stages it into the hub’s embed directory, then compiles a self-contained hub binary.

pnpm install                              # once
pnpm --filter web build                   # builds web/dist/
rm -rf internal/hub/web/dist
mkdir -p internal/hub/web/dist
cp -r web/dist/. internal/hub/web/dist/   # stage for go:embed
touch internal/hub/web/dist/.gitkeep      # restore the placeholder

go build -o bin/lumen-hub ./cmd/lumen-hub
go build -o bin/lumen-agent ./cmd/lumen-agent

./bin/lumen-hub &
./bin/lumen-agent

On a Unix-y shell, make build does the whole pipeline in one command. On Windows, run the lines above directly (the Makefile expects bash).

Open http://localhost:8090 — same UI, but served from inside the single binary. No Vite, no node at runtime.

4. Docker Compose

One command starts the hub in a distroless container. Agents are added separately from the web UI with generated per-agent Compose files.

docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml up --build

First run takes ~3 minutes (pulls golang, node, distroless images and runs the hub build). Subsequent runs are seconds thanks to layer caching.

Open http://localhost:8090. The hub container exposes :8090. Only run the optional local demo agent when deliberately testing ingest; reuse one fixed local-test-agent host/token instead of creating many agents on the same machine.

Stop and clean up:

docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml down --rmi local

The agent inside the container reports cgroup-restricted CPU (so values look low). To monitor the host CPU from a containerized agent you’d need --pid=host + bind-mount /proc:/host/proc:ro and set HOST_PROC=/host/proc. That’s a Phase-2 concern.

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Testing the API

Two import-ready spec files live under api/:

• api/openapi.yaml — OpenAPI 3.1. Import into Postman, Insomnia, Bruno, Hoppscotch, Stoplight, etc.
• api/lumen.http — REST Client format for VS Code (humao.rest-client), JetBrains HTTP Client, and Visual Studio.

Both cover GET /healthz, POST /api/ingest, and document GET /api/stream (WebSocket — drive with the snippets at the bottom of lumen.http).

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Env vars

All knobs live in .env. Defaults shown.

Hub

Var	Default	Meaning
LUMEN_HUB_ADDR	:8090	Bind address.
LUMEN_HUB_DEV	false	Verbose request logs + slog DEBUG level.
LUMEN_HUB_STREAM_INTERVAL	5s	Cadence at which /api/stream re-sends the snapshot.
LUMEN_HUB_DB_PATH	./lumen.db	SQLite file (auto-created; WAL pragmas applied).
LUMEN_HUB_SECRET	random per startup	Hex-encoded HMAC secret for session JWTs (>=64 hex chars). If unset, hub generates one at boot and all sessions die on restart — set this in prod. Generate with openssl rand -hex 32.
LUMEN_HUB_RETENTION_WINDOW	24h	Snapshots older than now − WINDOW are pruned on every sweep. Set to 0 to disable.
LUMEN_HUB_RETENTION_INTERVAL	1h	Retention sweep cadence. Set to 0 to disable.
LUMEN_HUB_AGENT_INTERVAL	5s	Runtime policy for agent collection cadence. Seeds the DB on first hub startup; later edits happen in Settings → Runtime.
LUMEN_HUB_ADMIN_USERNAME	empty	Seed admin username. On every boot, if this user doesn’t exist yet, the hub creates it with the password below. Existing users are left alone — passwords changed via UI survive restart.
LUMEN_HUB_ADMIN_PASSWORD	empty	Plaintext password for the seed admin (Argon2id-hashed at write time). Both vars must be set together; both empty disables the seed and you have to register the first admin via the UI.

Agent

Var	Default	Meaning
LUMEN_HUB_URL	http://localhost:8090	Hub base URL (no trailing slash).
LUMEN_AGENT_TOKEN	empty	Per-host bearer token minted in Settings → Hosts. Required by strict ingest.
LUMEN_AGENT_INTERVAL	5s	Bootstrap sample interval. After connect, the hub Runtime setting can override it without redeploying the agent.
LUMEN_AGENT_HOST	os.Hostname()	Override the host identifier.

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Troubleshooting

bind: address already in use : Something else is on :8090. Either stop it or change LUMEN_HUB_ADDR to :9090 (and LUMEN_HUB_URL to match).

Hub at / shows “web bundle not embedded” : You built the hub without staging the web bundle into internal/hub/web/dist/. Either use mode 2 (Vite dev) or follow mode 3 to stage + rebuild.

Agent logs ingest send failed: connection refused : Hub isn’t listening. Check LUMEN_HUB_URL matches the hub’s LUMEN_HUB_ADDR, and that the hub terminal is still running.

go: command not found (after winget install on Windows) : The MSI installer set the system PATH, but your current shell inherited the old one. Open a fresh terminal.

Docker Compose: bind: address already in use : Same as above but for the compose port mapping. Edit the ports: entry in deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml.