Getting started
Use this guide to start Retsu and its local monitoring tools with Docker.
What you need
- Docker with Docker Compose.
- Just 1.45 or newer.
- Bash.
curl.
Check that they are ready:
just doctor
Start the complete local stack
Build the production image and start Retsu, PostgreSQL, the distributed cache, and the monitoring services:
just local-up
The command applies database migrations, starts the API and all three workers, and waits until the stack is ready.
Check it again at any time:
just local-ready
The main local addresses are:
- API: http://127.0.0.1:2424
- API readiness: http://127.0.0.1:2424/health/ready
- Grafana: http://127.0.0.1:24246
- Retsu Showcase dashboard: http://127.0.0.1:24246/d/retsu-showcase/retsu-showcase
Try the queue API
Create a queue:
curl --request POST http://127.0.0.1:2424/v1/queues \
--header 'content-type: application/json' \
--data '{"name":"getting-started"}'
The response contains the queue ID needed for message requests. Continue with Queues and messages to add, receive, and acknowledge a message.
See Retsu in action
Keep the Showcase dashboard open and run:
just local-showcase
The default demonstration lasts five minutes. It creates five queues and shows priority handling, acknowledgements, retries, expiry, and dead-letter cleanup. Pass a whole number from 5 through 20 for a longer run:
just local-showcase 20
See Load testing for the other scenarios and the exact showcase workload.
Stop the stack
Stop services without deleting their data:
just local-stop
Use just stack-down to remove the containers while keeping persisted data.
What to read next
- Local development explains the host Rust workflow, migrations, and project checks.
- Configuration lists every supported runtime setting.
- Monitoring explains the local dashboards and endpoints.
- The detailed local infrastructure reference covers service ports, resource limits, logs, and data reset commands.