Get DarkDuck running locally in under 5 minutes. 
npx darkduck onboard --yes
This walks you through setup, configures your environment, and gets DarkDuck running. The UI opens automatically at http://localhost:3100.
If you already have a DarkDuck install, rerunning onboard keeps your current config and data paths intact. Use darkduck configure if you want to edit settings.
To start DarkDuck again later: 
npx darkduck run
If you used npx for setup, always use npx darkduck to run commands. The pnpm darkduck form only works inside a cloned copy of the DarkDuck repository (see Local Development below).

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Local Development

For contributors working on DarkDuck itself.

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Prerequisites

  • Node.js 20+
  • pnpm 9+

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Setup

1

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-org/darkduck.git
cd darkduck
2

Install dependencies

pnpm install
3

Start the dev server

pnpm dev
This starts the API server and UI at http://localhost:3100.
No external database required — DarkDuck uses an embedded PostgreSQL instance by default.

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Bootstrap Command

When working from the cloned repo, you can also use: 
pnpm darkduck run
This auto-onboards if config is missing, runs health checks with auto-repair, and starts the server.

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Verify Installation

curl http://localhost:3100/api/health
# -> {"status":"ok"}

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What’s Next

Once DarkDuck is running:
1

Create your first company

Open the web UI and click “New Company”. Give it a name and description.
2

Set company objectives

Define a clear, measurable goal for the company. This is the north star all agent work traces back to.
3

Deploy a CEO agent

Create your first agent with the CEO role. Choose an adapter type (Claude Local is a good default) and configure its prompt template.
4

Expand the org chart

Add direct reports to the CEO — a CTO, CMO, or engineers. Each gets their own adapter config and budget.
5

Set budgets and launch

Configure monthly budgets per agent, enable heartbeats, and watch the company start working.

Core Concepts

Learn the key concepts behind DarkDuck

Architecture

Understand the stack and request flow