🚀 LaunchPad - Official Strapi Demo (Refactored)

Welcome to LaunchPad, the official Strapi demo application. This project is a full-stack starter kit combining Strapi 5 (CMS) and Next.js (Frontend) with a pre-configured PostgreSQL database.

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🛡️ Optimized for Production

Do not build your images directly on a low-RAM VPS! We highly recommend using the Private Docker Registry Boilerplate to store your pre-built images. This ensures a lightweight, fast, and secure deployment cycle.

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🛠️ Environment Matrix

To avoid port conflicts on local machines, we use different port ranges for Docker and Local development.

Service	Local Dev (Non-Docker)	Docker (Production-ready)
Strapi Backend	http://localhost:1338	http://localhost:1337
Next.js Frontend	http://localhost:3002	http://localhost:3000
PostgreSQL	localhost:5430	localhost:5432 (Internal)
Adminer (DB UI)	http://localhost:8080	http://localhost:8080
Swagger Docs	/documentation/v1.0.0	/documentation/v1.0.0

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🏗️ 1. Local Development (Hybrid Mode)

Best for speed, hot-reloading, and avoiding Windows/Docker permission issues.

Step 1: Start the Database

Ensure only the Database and DB UI are running in Docker:

docker-compose up -d strapiDB adminer

Step 2: Setup Environments

Install dependencies and sync .env files across root, strapi/, and next/:

yarn setup

Tip: The yarn setup script automatically generates unique secrets for tobemodified keys in your .env files.

Step 3: Run the Engines

Start both Strapi and Next.js concurrently:

yarn dev

• Strapi will be available at 1338.
• Next.js will be available at 3002.

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🐳 2. Docker Full-Stack Deployment

Best for production simulation or consistent environments.

Spin up everything

docker-compose up -d --build

🔄 Updating Changes to Docker

If you modify Code or Environment Variables, follow this workflow to ensure Docker is synced:

1. Down: docker-compose down
2. Build: docker-compose build nextjs strapi (Bypass cache to bake in new Env vars with --no-cache args)
3. Up: docker-compose up -d

🧪 Troubleshooting "Failed to fetch module"

If the Strapi Admin UI shows blank/broken pages, it's likely a hydration issue. Run a clean rebuild:

docker-compose down -v
docker-compose build --no-cache
docker-compose up -d

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💾 3. Data Management

Seeding (Import Demo Data)

To populate your instance with the provided demo content:

# If running Local Dev
cd strapi && yarn seed

# If running in Docker (Windows users MUST use -u root)
docker exec -it -u root strapi yarn seed

Database Access

• Adminer: http://localhost:8080
• Server: strapiDB
• Username/Password: See your .env file (strapi / strapi_secure_password_123)

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📝 Best Practices & Knowledge base

• Image URL Logic: We use NEXT_PUBLIC_STRAPI_URL to ensure the browser loads images from the correct endpoint, bypassing Docker's internal networking issues.
• Port Conflicts: Port 3000/1337 are reserved for Docker. Port 3002/1338 are for Local Dev.
• Git Hygiene:
  • Don't commit .env files.
  • src/extensions/documentation files can be committed if you want to track API changes, or ignored if you want Strapi to auto-generate them.

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Features Overview ✨

• Next.js 15+ & Strapi 5: Cutting edge tech stack.
• Dynamic Zones: Build complex pages with reusable blocks.
• SEO Optimized: Pre-configured SEO component and metadata handling.
• Multi-lingual: Full i18n support.

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Resources

• Strapi Documentation
• Next.js Documentation

Docs • Discord • YouTube • Strapi Design System • Marketplace • Cloud Free Trial

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🌌 The LaunchPad Ecosystem

This project is part of the LaunchPad ecosystem—a complete suite of boilerplates designed for high-performance, production-ready development. Check out the other repositories to complete your stack:

• 📱 LaunchPad Mobile Native: A React Native/Expo mobile app boilerplate configured for seamless Strapi integration.
• 💻 LaunchPad CMS Fullstack: A full-stack starter kit combining Next.js (Frontend) and Strapi 5 (Headless CMS) with Docker support.
• 🐳 LaunchPad Registry Stack: A lightweight, self-hosted private Docker Registry with Web UI to streamline your CI/CD and save VPS resources.

⭐️ If you find this ecosystem useful, please consider giving the repositories a star on GitHub!

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Customization

• The Strapi application contains a custom population middlewares in every api route.

• The Strapi application contains a postinstall script that will regenerate an uuid for the project in order to get some anonymous usage information concerning this demo. You can disable it by removing the uuid inside the ./strapi/packages.json file.

• The Strapi application contains a patch for the @strapi/admin package. It is only necessary for the hosted demos since we automatically create the Super Admin users for them when they request this demo on our website.