Try Demo Mode

Demo mode lets you explore SparkFeed immediately: no account, no database migration, no API keys. A single environment variable is all you need.

Quick start

1. Clone and install

   git clone https://github.com/Sparkable-dev/SparkFeed.git sparkfeed
   cd sparkfeed
   bun install

2. Enable demo mode

   echo "VITE_DEMO_MODE=true" > .env.local

3. Start the server

   bun run dev

   Open http://localhost:3000. You land straight in the app, with no sign-up prompt.

That’s it. No db:push, no email credentials, no AI key.

What’s pre-loaded

Demo mode seeds three folders with nine curated RSS feeds on first boot:

Folder	Feeds
AI Research Labs	OpenAI Blog, Google DeepMind, Microsoft Research, Meta AI Research
Cloud Platforms	AWS Blog, Azure Blog
Marketing & Growth	HubSpot Marketing, Neil Patel Blog, Moz Blog

Three articles (one per folder) are pre-marked as favorites so the Favorites page is populated from the start.

How it works under the hood

• Isolated database: Demo mode writes to rss-demo.db, a completely separate file from your development database (rss.db). Toggling the flag never touches your real data.
• Auto-migration: The demo database schema is created automatically on first request. You never need to run bun run db:push.
• Idempotent seeding: Fixed primary-key IDs and ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING inserts mean restarting the server never creates duplicate folders or feeds.
• No real auth: The _protected route bypasses getSession() entirely and returns a synthetic demo session. Auth pages (/login, /signup, etc.) redirect to /.

What’s locked in demo mode

Demo mode is intentionally read-only for structural changes. Attempting locked actions shows a clear toast or panel rather than an error.

Feature	Demo behaviour
Add / edit / delete feeds	Toast: feature locked
Add / rename / delete folders	Toast: feature locked
Spark AI chat	Locked panel with sign-up prompt
Settings mutations (save profile, delete account, etc.)	Amber banner + buttons disabled
Create workspace	Toast: feature locked
Sign out	Toast: no account in demo mode
Auth pages (/login, /signup, …)	Redirect to /
Browse articles, favorites, today view	Fully functional
Mark favorites / bookmarks / read-later	Fully functional
Refresh feeds	Fully functional

Switching back to real mode

Remove or set VITE_DEMO_MODE=false in .env.local and restart the server. Your development database (rss.db) is untouched. Demo data lives exclusively in rss-demo.db.

Resetting demo data

To wipe and reseed the demo database:

rm rss-demo.db
# restart the dev server; it auto-migrates and reseeds on next request
bun run dev