Encore Getting Started

The encore.app File

// encore.app
{
    "id": "my-app"
}

This file marks the root of your Encore app. The id is your app's unique identifier.

Define a Service

Create encore.service.ts to define a service:

// encore.service.ts
import { Service } from "encore.dev/service";

export default new Service("my-service");

Create Your First API

// api.ts
import { api } from "encore.dev/api";

interface HelloResponse {
  message: string;
}

export const hello = api(
  { method: "GET", path: "/hello", expose: true },
  async (): Promise<HelloResponse> => {
    return { message: "Hello, World!" };
  }
);

Run Your App

# Start the development server
encore run

# Your API is now available at http://localhost:4000

Open the Local Dashboard

# Opens the local development dashboard
encore run
# Then visit http://localhost:9400

The dashboard shows:

• All your services and endpoints
• Request/response logs
• Database queries
• Traces and spans

Common CLI Commands

Add a Database

// db.ts
import { SQLDatabase } from "encore.dev/storage/sqldb";

const db = new SQLDatabase("mydb", {
  migrations: "./migrations",
});

Create a migration:

-- migrations/1_create_table.up.sql
CREATE TABLE items (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name TEXT NOT NULL
);

Next Steps

• Add more endpoints (see encore-api skill)
• Add authentication (see encore-auth skill)
• Add infrastructure like Pub/Sub, cron jobs (see encore-infrastructure skill)
• Deploy to Encore Cloud: encore app link then git push encore