---
title: Getting started
description: Install Analytik, run the server locally with SQLite, create a site, add the script and see the first pageview.
sidebar:
  order: 2
---

This page runs everything on your machine with Bun or Node and a SQLite file. The deploy guides cover [Cloudflare](/deploy/cloudflare-workers-d1), [Vercel](/deploy/vercel-supabase), [Railway](/deploy/railway-postgres) and [a VPS](/deploy/bun-node-sqlite).

## Install

```package-install
analytik hono
```

Analytik is ESM only and needs Node 22.19 or newer, or Bun 1.3 or newer. `hono` is a peer dependency of the server. `react` and `react-dom` (version 19) are needed only for the React bindings and the dashboard. Postgres needs `postgres` or `pg`, and you pass the connected client to `postgresStorage()`; see [Storage](/reference/storage). The tracker script and the browser client have no dependencies.

## Write the server

```ts server.ts
import { createAnalytik } from 'analytik/server'
import { sqliteStorage } from 'analytik/storage/sqlite'
import { Hono } from 'hono'
import { serveStatic } from 'hono/bun'

const storage = sqliteStorage('./analytik.db')
await storage.migrate()

const analytik = createAnalytik({
  storage,
  admin: { password: process.env.ADMIN_PASSWORD!, secret: process.env.SESSION_SECRET! },
})

const app = new Hono()
app.route('/', analytik.app)
// The server does not serve the tracker script; see "Add the script" below.
app.use('/js/analytik.js', serveStatic({ path: './public/js/analytik.js' }))

export default {
  port: 8787,
  fetch: app.fetch,
}
```

Run it with `ADMIN_PASSWORD=change-me SESSION_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32) bun server.ts`. `createAnalytik()` throws at startup when `ADMIN_PASSWORD` is empty or `SESSION_SECRET` is shorter than 32 characters, so a weak password or a forgeable session cookie never goes live. On Node, serve the app with `@hono/node-server` instead; see [Bun, Node and SQLite](/deploy/bun-node-sqlite).

`migrate()` applies pending migrations and is safe to call on every start. The same call exists on every storage driver.

## Create a site

A site is one website you track. Log in to the admin API with your password, then create it:

```bash
curl -i -c cookies.txt -X POST http://localhost:8787/api/auth/login \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"password":"change-me"}'

curl -b cookies.txt -X POST http://localhost:8787/api/sites \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"My site","domain":"example.com","timezone":"Europe/Bratislava","currency":"EUR","allowLocalhost":true}'
```

The domain must look like `example.com`: the server rejects `localhost` and other names without a dot and a top-level domain. For local work, use a domain you own or `example.com`, and set `allowLocalhost` so events from `localhost` are accepted.

The response is `{ "site": { ... }, "apiKey": "ak_..." }`. Take the site id from `site.id`. The `apiKey` is for server-to-server calls such as [payments](/guides/payments); it is shown only this once, and you can issue a new one with `POST /sites/:id/rotate-key`. You can also create sites from the dashboard (the Websites view, Add website) once it is embedded; see [Embedding the dashboard](/guides/dashboard-embedding).

## Add the script

```html index.html
<script defer src="http://localhost:8787/js/analytik.js" data-site="SITE_ID" data-allow-localhost></script>
```

The Analytik server does not serve the tracker script. The file is `dist/analytik.js` in the package (exported as `analytik/analytik.js`). Copy it into the folder your server or host serves as static files, and copy it again after you upgrade the package:

```bash
mkdir -p public/js && cp node_modules/analytik/dist/analytik.js public/js/analytik.js
```

The server above serves that file at `/js/analytik.js`. Without `data-api` the tracker sends events to the same origin as the script, under `/api`, which matches this setup.

`data-allow-localhost` is only for local work; without it the tracker does nothing on `localhost`, and the server rejects events from hosts that are not the site's domain unless the site has `allowLocalhost` set. All attributes are listed in the [tracker attributes reference](/reference/tracker-attributes).

By default the first pageview is sent after the first interaction or three seconds of visibility, so open the page, wait, and scroll.

## See the data

```bash
curl -b cookies.txt "http://localhost:8787/api/sites/SITE_ID/realtime"
```

The result is a `Realtime` object: visitors in the last five minutes and the latest events. The same data drives the dashboard, which you can mount in a React app:

```tsx Admin.tsx
import { Dashboard } from 'analytik/dashboard'
import 'analytik/dashboard/styles.css'

export function Admin() {
  return <Dashboard api="http://localhost:8787/api" />
}
```

## Next

- Choose how much to store on the device: [privacy modes](/concepts/privacy-modes).
- Record sign-ups and clicks: [tracker guide](/guides/tracker).
- Credit payments to sources: [payments guide](/guides/payments).
- Mount the server in Next.js, Express, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro or Cloudflare Pages: [framework guides](/guides/frameworks).
- Something not working? See [Troubleshooting](/troubleshooting).
- Check the setup from the command line with `npx analytik doctor`; see the [CLI reference](/reference/cli).