Local Development

Practical examples and patterns for typical local development workflows

This guide walks through common workflows and best practices for developing with Helix CLI v2 locally.

Initial Setup

1. Create project

   mkdir my-app && cd my-app
   helix init
   

   Note that helix init with no arguments defaults to making a local instance called dev.

2. Define schema

   Edit db/schema.hx:

   N::User {
     name: String,
     INDEX email: String,
     created_at: Date DEFAULT NOW
   }
   
   N::Post {
     title: String,
     content: String,
     published: Boolean DEFAULT true,
     created_at: Date DEFAULT NOW
   }
   
3. Create queries

   Edit db/queries.hx:

   QUERY createUser(name: String, email: String) =>
     user <- AddN<User({
       name: name,
       email: email,
     })
     RETURN user
   
   QUERY getUserByEmail(email: String) =>
     user <- N<User>({email: email})
     RETURN user
   
4. Validate

   helix check
   
5. Build and deploy

   helix push dev
   

Development Iteration

When making changes during development:

# Edit your .hx files
vim db/queries.hx

# Validate changes
helix check

# Deploy changes (rebuilds automatically if needed)
helix push dev

# Check status
helix status

# View logs
docker logs helix_my-app_dev

# Stop when done
helix stop dev

Working with Multiple Instances

Create different instances for different purposes:

# Add a testing instance
helix add local --name testing

# Configure different port in helix.toml
# [local.testing]
# port = 7070

# Run both instances
helix push dev
helix push testing

# Status shows all instances
helix status