Getting Started

Getting Started

Welcome to the SmartGen project! This guide will help you get your local environment ready for development in just a few minutes.

What is SmartGen?

SmartGen is a collection of free, privacy-first developer and marketing utilities — QR code generators, image compressors, text converters, and more — all processed entirely in the browser. No data ever touches a server.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed:

  • Node.js 18 or higher
  • pnpm (package manager)
  • Git

Check your versions:

node -v
pnpm -v
git --version

If pnpm isn't installed yet:

npm install -g pnpm

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/bayzed123/SmartGenQR.oi.git
cd SmartGenQR.oi

Install Dependencies

pnpm install

This installs everything needed for both the site and the build scripts (marked, gray-matter, slugify, etc.).

Run the Build Scripts

SmartGen generates its Blog and Docs sections as static HTML from Markdown source files.

pnpm build

This runs two scripts in sequence:

npm run build-blog   # compiles blog-posts/*.md → /blog/
npm run build-docs   # compiles docs-posts/*.md → /docs/

Preview Locally

Since SmartGen is a static site, you can preview it with any simple local server:

npx serve .

Then open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Project Architecture (Quick Overview)

SmartGen follows a modular, client-side-first architecture:

  • Each tool lives in its own folder: /[tool-folder]/index.html
  • Global styles: /assets/css/style.css
  • Global scripts: /assets/js/app.js, search-data.js, related-tools.js, search.js
  • Blog & Docs are generated from Markdown via Node.js build scripts in /scripts/

For a deeper dive, see the Installation Guide and API Reference.

Next Steps

  • ✅ Explore the /[tool-folder]/ directories to see how individual tools are built
  • ✅ Read `CONTRIBUTING.md` before submitting a PR
  • ✅ Join the discussion on GitHub Discussions

Happy building! 🚀
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