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Installation Guide

Follow these steps to install WhatDoc on your server.

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Clone the Repository

1

Clone from GitHub

git clone https://github.com/herin7/whatdoc.xyz.git
cd whatdoc.xyz

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Install Server Dependencies

The server is an Express application that handles authentication, repository cloning, code ingestion, and LLM integration.
1

Navigate to server directory

cd server
2

Install npm packages

npm install
This installs all required dependencies including:
  • Express 5 - HTTP server framework
  • Mongoose - MongoDB ODM
  • @google/generative-ai - Gemini API client
  • simple-git - Git operations for repository cloning
  • jsonwebtoken & bcrypt - Authentication
  • zod - Schema validation
  • And more…
3

Verify installation

Check that dependencies installed successfully:
npm list --depth=0

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Install Client Dependencies

The client is a React application built with Vite that provides the user interface.
1

Navigate to client directory

cd ../client
2

Install npm packages

npm install
This installs all required dependencies including:
  • React 19 - UI framework
  • Vite - Build tool and dev server
  • TailwindCSS - Utility-first styling
  • React Router - Client-side routing
  • React Markdown - Markdown rendering
  • Lucide Icons - Icon system
  • And more…
3

Verify installation

Check that dependencies installed successfully:
npm list --depth=0

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Project Structure

After installation, your project structure should look like this: 
whatdoc.xyz/
├── client/                 # React frontend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── app/            # Landing page
│   │   ├── components/     # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── config/         # Template registry
│   │   ├── context/        # Auth context provider
│   │   ├── lib/            # API client & utilities
│   │   ├── pages/          # Route pages
│   │   └── templates/      # Doc display templates
│   ├── public/             # Static assets
│   └── package.json
│
├── server/                 # Express backend
│   ├── controllers/        # Route handlers
│   ├── models/             # Mongoose schemas
│   ├── routes/             # API routes
│   ├── services/           # Engine & LLM logic
│   ├── middlewares/        # Auth middleware
│   ├── utils/              # Key rotation manager
│   └── package.json
│
└── README.md

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Verify Installation

1

Check Node.js is working

From the server directory:
node --version
2

Check server dependencies

cd server
npm list express mongoose
3

Check client dependencies

cd ../client
npm list react vite

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Next Steps

Now that installation is complete, proceed to Configuration to set up your environment variables and start the services.

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