Pick your path
Metacore is two pieces that meet in the middle. Where you start depends on what you're building.
Three roles, three quickstarts
Build an addon → You're shipping a feature — tickets, inventory, content blocks, whatever. You write amanifest.json, optionally some Go for custom logic, and the SDK builds and signs a .mcbundle. Drop it on any host running the kernel. Embed the runtime → You have a Go service and want to add modular CRUD without writing the plumbing. Import the kernel as a library, mount its routes under a path, you're done. Build a host → You want a host application — a frontend that picks up any installed addon and renders it. Vite + React + the SDK on top, kernel on the bottom. Not sure?
Match your problem to a path:
| You want to... | Start here |
|---|---|
| Add a new resource (with CRUD UI) to an existing Metacore-powered app | Build an addon |
| Add modular CRUD to a Go backend that doesn't have it yet | Embed the runtime |
| Build the operator surface, the marketplace surface, or anything that hosts addons | Build a host |
| Just understand the platform | Read Architecture, then come back |
| Evaluate vs Retool / Refine / Directus | Read Why Metacore |
What every path needs
- Node.js 20+ and pnpm 10+ for the SDK and any host frontend.
- Go 1.22+ for the kernel and any host backend.
- A database. Postgres for production, SQLite is fine for local development. The kernel handles both.
- No SaaS account. Metacore runs entirely on your infrastructure.
Where the deep docs live
This portal stops where the per-tool docs begin. For everything detailed — every manifest field, every React component, every kernel subsystem — the link points you to the right repo's documentation site:
- SDK docs — manifest spec, every package, every component.
- Kernel docs — embedding API, subsystem internals, security model.