Installation

Install Aparture and its dependencies to get started.

Prerequisites

Before installing Aparture, ensure you have the following:

Required

• Node.js 18.0 or higher (download)
• npm 8.0 or higher (comes with Node.js)
• Git (for cloning the repository)

Optional

• Playwright (for CLI automation and testing)
• API keys for at least one LLM provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google)

Installation Steps

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/joshspeagle/aparture.git
cd aparture

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

This will install all required packages including:

• Next.js 14 (web framework)
• React 18 (UI library)
• Lucide React (icons)
• Playwright (browser automation)
• CLI utilities (progress bars, prompts, command parsing)

3. Install Playwright (Optional)

For CLI automation and browser-based testing:

npx playwright install chromium

Why Chromium only?

Aparture only uses Chromium for automation. Installing just Chromium saves ~1GB compared to installing all browsers.

Verify Installation

Check that everything is installed correctly:

# Check Node.js version
node --version  # Should be v18.0.0 or higher

# Check npm version
npm --version   # Should be 8.0.0 or higher

# List installed packages
npm list --depth=0

Project Structure

After installation, your directory should look like:

aparture/
├── pages/              # Next.js pages and API routes
├── components/         # React components
├── cli/                # CLI tools and automation
├── utils/              # Utility functions
├── styles/             # Global styles
├── docs/               # VitePress documentation
├── temp/               # Temporary files (Playwright profiles, PDFs)
├── reports/            # Generated analysis reports
├── package.json        # Dependencies and scripts
├── next.config.mjs     # Next.js configuration
└── .env.local          # Environment variables (you'll create this)

Troubleshooting

Node.js Version Issues

If you have an older Node.js version:

Using nvm (Linux/Mac):

nvm install 18
nvm use 18

Using nvm-windows:

nvm install 18
nvm use 18

Or download directly: Visit nodejs.org and install the LTS version.

npm Install Failures

Clear cache and retry:

npm cache clean --force
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

Permission errors (Linux/Mac):

sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm

Playwright Installation Issues

Disk space: Chromium requires ~300MB. Check available space:

df -h  # Linux/Mac

System dependencies (Linux):

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libnss3 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libdrm2 libxkbcommon0 libgbm1

# Fedora
sudo dnf install nss atk at-spi2-atk cups-libs libdrm libxkbcommon mesa-libgbm

Next Steps

Now that Aparture is installed:

1. Set up environment variables →
2. Run your first analysis →
3. Configure CLI automation →

Updating

To update Aparture to the latest version:

git pull origin main
npm install

Breaking Changes

Check the GitHub releases for breaking changes before updating.