For a high-level guide to Unix-like systems, inc. Mac OS X and Ubuntu, see:

INSTALL.Unix

For a high-level guide to Microsoft Windows, see:

INSTALL.Windows

Follow the proper instructions to get CouchDB installed on your system.

If you're having problems, skip to the next section.

We have documentation:

https://docs.couchdb.org/

It includes a changelog:

https://docs.couchdb.org/en/latest/whatsnew/

For troubleshooting or cryptic error messages, see:

https://docs.couchdb.org/en/latest/install/troubleshooting.html

For general help, see:

https://couchdb.apache.org/#mailing-list

We also have an IRC channel:

https://web.libera.chat/#couchdb

The mailing lists provide a wealth of support and knowledge for you to tap into. Feel free to drop by with your questions or discussion. See the official CouchDB website for more information about our community resources.

Run a basic test suite for CouchDB by browsing here:

https://127.0.0.1:5984/_utils/#verifyinstall

Quickstart:

If you already have VS Code and Docker installed, you can click the badge above or here to get started. Clicking these links will cause VS Code to automatically install the Remote - Containers extension if needed, clone the source code into a container volume, and spin up a dev container for use.

This devcontainer will automatically run ./configure && make the first time it is created. While this may take some extra time to spin up, this tradeoff means you will be able to run things like ./dev/run, ./dev/run --admin=admin:admin, ./dev/run --with-admin-party-please, and make check straight away. Subsequent startups should be quick.

Manual Dev Setup:

For more detail, read the README-DEV.rst file in this directory.

Basically you just have to install the needed dependencies which are documented in the install docs and then run ./configure && make.

You don't need to run make install after compiling, just use ./dev/run to spin up three nodes. You can add haproxy as a caching layer in front of this cluster by running ./dev/run --with-haproxy --haproxy=/path/to/haproxy . You will now have a local cluster listening on port 5984.

For Fauxton developers fixing the admin-party does not work via the button in Fauxton. To fix the admin party you have to run ./dev/run with the admin flag, e.g. ./dev/run --admin=username:password. If you want to have an admin-party, just omit the flag.

You can learn more about our contributing process here:

https://github.com/apache/couchdb/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

This distribution includes cryptographic software. The country in which you currently reside may have restrictions on the import, possession, use, and/or re-export to another country, of encryption software. BEFORE using any encryption software, please check your country's laws, regulations and policies concerning the import, possession, or use, and re-export of encryption software, to see if this is permitted. See <https://www.wassenaar.org/> for more information.

The U.S. Government Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), has classified this software as Export Commodity Control Number (ECCN) 5D002.C.1, which includes information security software using or performing cryptographic functions with asymmetric algorithms. The form and manner of this Apache Software Foundation distribution makes it eligible for export under the License Exception ENC Technology Software Unrestricted (TSU) exception (see the BIS Export Administration Regulations, Section 740.13) for both object code and source code.

The following provides more details on the included cryptographic software:

CouchDB includes a HTTP client (ibrowse) with SSL functionality.