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Zelavis Docs

First Runtime

This page shows the simplest current way to start Zelavis.

Quick start

Section titled “Quick start”
import { Zelavis } from "zelavis";
import { nodeAdapter } from "zelavis/adapters/node";
import { createNodeServer } from "zelavis/runtimes/node";


const zv = new Zelavis({
  adapter: nodeAdapter(),
});
const server = await createNodeServer(zv);


server.listen(3000);

This is the preferred application-facing shape. Examples use zv as the short local name for a Zelavis runtime instance.

When you need direct access to the initialized runtime object, jump to Advanced Runtime Access.

What you get by default

Section titled “What you get by default”

A Zelavis App Project created from the official Project recipe mounts these runtime services:

  • dashboard
  • auth
  • database
  • website
  • workloads

When the selected adapter provides file storage, Zelavis can also expose:

  • storage

Default root namespace:

/zelavis
/zelavis/marketplace
/zelavis/projects/:projectId
/zelavis/projects/:projectId/marketplace
/zelavis/projects/:projectId/settings
/zelavis/server
/zelavis/server/domains
/zelavis/server/backups
/zelavis/server/logs
/zelavis/assets/*
/zelavis/api/v1/runtime/config
/zelavis/api/v1/runtime/settings
/zelavis/api/v1/auth
/zelavis/api/v1/database
/zelavis/api/v1/storage/files/*
/zelavis/api/v1/storage/files/*?format=metadata
/zelavis/api/v1/workloads
/zelavis/api/v1/workloads/http/:projectId/*path

The dashboard root at /zelavis opens the Projects overview. Create a project there, then open its project-local pages under /zelavis/projects/:projectId/*.

The global Marketplace at /zelavis/marketplace is for Project recipes presented as apps and starters, plus templates and server provider plugins. Project plugins live inside Zelavis-native Projects at /zelavis/projects/:projectId/marketplace. Global management areas such as Domains, Resources, Server, and Security sit outside Project URLs; server-owned backing routes currently live under /zelavis/server/*.

The website service also mounts public website pages at /, while still reserving the dashboard namespace under /zelavis.

Platform settings, project registry data, and service installation state are stored in the Platform System Store. Local adapters use .zelavis/system/zelavis.sqlite. The Platform does not expose that store in a project Database screen. Each Zelavis App project has an app database at .zelavis/projects/<projectId>/.zelavis/data/primary/shards, backed by four local SQLite shard files by default, and private topology/runtime metadata at .zelavis/projects/<projectId>/.zelavis/runtime/zelavis.sqlite.

The runtime lists Project recipes at GET /zelavis/api/v1/runtime/project-recipes. See Platform OS and Project Recipes.

Dashboard settings

Section titled “Dashboard settings”

The built-in dashboard settings endpoint currently exposes:

  • rootPath
  • pendingRootPath
  • apiBasePath
  • theme
  • pageBuilderEnabled
  • persistence
  • editable
  • restartRequired

Root path changes are stored as pending runtime settings and require a restart before the dashboard actually moves.

Use the fetch-style runtime directly

Section titled “Use the fetch-style runtime directly”

When the self-hosted handler already speaks the Web Request -> Response model (Bun, Next.js App Router on Node, future Deno, etc.), no framework helper is needed — call zv.fetch(request) directly:

import { Zelavis } from "zelavis";


const zv = new Zelavis();
const response = await zv.fetch(
  new Request("http://localhost/zelavis/api/v1/runtime/config"),
);

Next

Section titled “Next”