Building from Source

Building from Source

You only need this to change Vision Call itself. To run it, use a ready-made release.

What you need

• Go 1.26 or newer
• Node.js 22 or newer (includes npm)
• For the Android app: JDK 17 and the Android SDK (Android Studio installs both)

How the pieces fit

server/    Go server: web app, REST API, WebSocket signaling and the group-call SFU
web/       React + TypeScript web app, built with Vite and embedded into the server
android/   Native Android app (Kotlin, Jetpack Compose)
deploy/    systemd units, backup script, certificate scripts, coturn config
scripts/   build scripts and installers
docs/wiki/ the pages of this wiki

The web app is compiled into the server binary, so a release is one file with nothing else to install.

Inside server/internal:

Package	Job
api	REST endpoints
auth	password hashing, sessions, rate limits, middleware
config	environment settings
settings	settings editable from the admin screen
db	SQLite, Postgres and MySQL access, with migrations for each
signaling	WebSocket hub: presence, chat, call signaling, rooms
sfu	group calls on pion/webrtc
oidc, mail, ice	single sign-on, password reset email, TURN credentials

Develop

Run the server and the web app's dev server side by side:

# terminal 1: the server on http://localhost:8080
cd server
DISABLE_TLS=true go run ./cmd/server

# terminal 2: the web app on http://localhost:5173, with hot reload
cd web
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173. Camera and microphone work on localhost without a certificate. The first admin password is printed in terminal 1.

Build

Build the web app, embed it and compile binaries for every platform into dist/:

./scripts/build.sh                    # Linux and macOS
.\scripts\build.ps1                   # Windows

Build just some platforms:

./scripts/build.sh linux/amd64 windows/amd64
.\scripts\build.ps1 -Targets linux/arm64

No C compiler is needed, so every platform builds from any machine.

Build the Docker image:

docker build -t visioncall .

Build the Android app (unsigned):

cd android
./gradlew assembleRelease

Test

cd server && go vet ./... && go test ./...
cd web && npm run build          # also type-checks
cd android && ./gradlew compileDebugKotlin

The same checks run on every pull request.

Database changes

Migrations live in server/internal/db/migrations/<sqlite|postgres|mysql>/. Add a new numbered file for each database; they run automatically on startup. Never edit a migration that has already been released.