How to Install Shynet on macOS

Shynet is an open-source, self-hosted analytics tool that provides insights into the web traffic of your website. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the installation process of Shynet on macOS.

Prerequisites

To install Shynet, you must have the following:

  • A macOS system
  • A terminal with command-line access
  • A GitHub account to clone Shynet from the repository

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Before installing Shynet, you need to make sure that your system has the necessary dependencies installed. These dependencies are:

  • Node.js
  • Git

You can install Node.js and Git using the Homebrew package manager. To install Homebrew, open the Terminal app and run the following command:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Once you have installed Homebrew, you can install Node.js and Git by running the following commands:

brew install node
brew install git

Step 2: Clone Shynet

Now that you have installed the required dependencies, you can clone the Shynet repository from GitHub. To do so, open the Terminal app and navigate to the directory where you want to install Shynet.

cd /path/to/install/shynet

Then, clone the Shynet repository using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/milesmcc/shynet.git

Step 3: Install Dependencies for Shynet

After cloning the Shynet repository, you need to install its dependencies. To do so, navigate to the Shynet directory using the following command:

cd shynet

Then, install the dependencies using the following command:

npm install

Step 4: Configure Shynet

Now that you have installed the dependencies, you need to configure Shynet. To do so, copy the example configuration file using the following command:

cp .env.example .env

Then, open the .env file in your favorite text editor and modify the following properties:

  • APP_URL: The URL of your website.

  • APP_KEY: A random string used for encryption. You can generate a new key using the following command:

    node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

  • DB_DATABASE: The name of the database that Shynet will use.

  • DB_USERNAME: The username of the database user.

  • DB_PASSWORD: The password of the database user.

Step 5: Initialize the Database

After configuring Shynet, you need to initialize the database. To do so, run the following command:

npm run db:init

This command will create the database tables and insert the necessary data.

Step 6: Start Shynet

Finally, you can start Shynet by running the following command:

npm start

This command will start the Shynet server, and you can access it in your browser by visiting http://localhost:3000.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install Shynet on macOS. By following the steps above, you can set up your own self-hosted analytics tool and gain insights into your website traffic.