Getting started

Pre-alpha

Bever is pre-alpha. The language and APIs will change in breaking ways between releases, and there is no upgrade path yet. Do not use it for production data. See Status.

Requirements

• .NET 10 SDK
• Node.js 20.19 or later

Install the CLI

dotnet tool install --global --prerelease Bever.Cli
bever --version

Update it later with dotnet tool update --global --prerelease Bever.Cli.

Create a project

bever new "Acme Tasks"
cd "Acme Tasks"

Project names start with a letter and may contain letters, digits, spaces, _, and -. The new folder contains:

Acme Tasks/
  bev/app.bev        the business model
  client/            the web app (Nuxt)
  server/            the API (ASP.NET Core)
  Dockerfile         one container for production
  README.md

Run it

bever dev

The first run takes a minute: it installs the client's packages, creates the database, and builds the server. Then it prints:

  App   http://localhost:3000
  API   http://localhost:5100/api/v1

Watching bev/ for changes. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Open http://localhost:3000. The starter model has sign-in with self-service registration, so choose Create an account, then add a project and a few tasks.

Make a change

Open bev/app.bev and add a field to Project:

Entity Project
    Field Name Text(120)
    Field Status Enum(Planned, Active, Completed) = Planned
    Field Description Text(2000)?
    Field Budget Money?

Save. bever dev recompiles the model and notices that the database needs a new column:

The database schema changed:
  safe              add field Project.Budget
Create and apply this migration? [y/N]

Answer y. Bever writes bev/migrations/<timestamp>_add-project-budget.json, applies it to .bever/bever.db, and restarts the API. The app reloads, and the project form now has a Budget input that accepts numbers only.

Errors are reported with their location and the server keeps running the last valid model:

bev/app.bev:10:5: error BEV3032: Unknown type 'Currency'. Use Text, Boolean, Int, Decimal, Money, Date, DateTime, Time, Email, Phone, Url, Enum(...), or '-> Entity'.

Editor support

Install the Bever extension for VS Code for highlighting, snippets, and errors as you type.

Next steps

• Follow the tutorial to build a small order desk.
• Read about the project structure.
• Look up any construct in the language reference.