Accessibility Payload

Payload CMS backend for the accessibility site.

Quick Start

1. Configure Environment

Create a local .env file from the example:

cp .env.example .env

Adjust values as needed. At minimum, set a real PAYLOAD_SECRET before using the environment for anything shared.

2. Prepare Media

Copy the media directory from a running instance, or create an empty one for a fresh local setup:

mkdir -p media

3. Activate Flox

Activate the development environment and start services:

flox activate -s

The activation hook initializes PostgreSQL on first use and creates the local database if it does not exist.

4. Install Dependencies

pnpm install

Local development uses the pnpm package provided by Flox. Production image builds use Corepack inside the Dockerfile, so Docker resolves pnpm from the packageManager field in package.json.

5. Restore Data

For a fresh empty local setup, this step can be skipped. To restore a database dump from another instance:

pg_restore -d "${PGDATABASE}" --no-owner payload.dump

Create that dump on the source instance with:

pg_dump -Fc -d "${PGDATABASE}" -f payload.dump

6. Run Locally

pnpm dev

Useful commands:

pnpm build
pnpm generate:types
pnpm generate:importmap

Upgrading the Development Environment

1. Upgrade Flox Packages

flox upgrade toplevel

2. Reactivate Flox

Exit the active Flox shell, then activate it again so updated tools and services are used:

exit
flox activate -s

3. Clean Up Old Package Installs

After confirming the upgraded environment works, remove old Flox package installs:

flox gc

4. Align pnpm version

Keep the packageManager version in package.json aligned with the pnpm version from Flox. This keeps local installs and Docker image builds on the same pnpm major version:

pnpm --version

5. Align Docker Node.js

If the Node.js major version changes, update the Dockerfile base image to match the Flox Node.js major version. For example, nodejs_24 in Flox should use node:24-alpine in Dockerfile.