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This guide walks you through setting up the CareerTrack API on your local machine — from cloning the repository and installing PHP dependencies to running database migrations and starting the Laravel development server. By the end you will have a fully functional API running at http://localhost:8000.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure the following tools are installed on your system:
  • PHP 8.3+ — CareerTrack requires PHP 8.3 or higher (php -v to check)
  • Composer — PHP dependency manager (getcomposer.org)
  • Node.js — Required for building Vite front-end assets bundled with Laravel
  • Git — To clone the repository

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Installation Steps

1

Clone the repository

Clone the project from GitHub and move into the project directory:
git clone https://github.com/ericcobasdev/careertrack-api.git && cd careertrack-api
2

Install PHP dependencies

Install all required PHP packages via Composer:
composer install
3

Set up the environment file

Copy the example environment file and generate a unique application key:
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
php artisan key:generate writes a 32-character random string to APP_KEY in your .env file. This key is used for encryption and must never be shared. See Configuration for a full breakdown of every environment variable.
4

Create the SQLite database file

The default configuration uses SQLite. Create the database file that Laravel expects:
touch database/database.sqlite
5

Run database migrations

Apply all migrations to create the application tables, including job_applications and users:
php artisan migrate
6

Seed sample data (optional)

Populate the database with sample records for development and testing:
php artisan db:seed
7

Start the development server

Launch the built-in Laravel development server:
php artisan serve
The API is now available at http://localhost:8000. All endpoints are prefixed with /api (e.g., http://localhost:8000/api/applications).
One-command setup: The composer.json setup script automates steps 2–6 in a single command. It runs composer install, copies .env.example to .env if it does not exist, generates the application key, runs migrations, installs Node dependencies, and builds front-end assets:
composer run setup
After it completes, run php artisan serve to start the server.

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Verifying the Installation

Once the server is running, verify the API is responding by sending a registration request: 
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"Test User","email":"test@example.com","password":"password","password_confirmation":"password"}'
A successful response returns a 201 Created status with a JSON body containing the new user and a Sanctum bearer token. If you receive an HTML error page, check that APP_KEY is set in your .env and that the database file exists.

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Running Tests

CareerTrack ships with a PHPUnit test suite. Run it with either command: 
php artisan test

composer run test
The composer run test script clears the config cache before running the suite, which is useful when environment values have changed between runs.

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