Prerequisites

Before installing Foundry, set up the following tools and accounts. Everything listed as required has a free tier sufficient for local development.

Required tools

Tool	Minimum version	Purpose	Install
Bun	1.1+	Package manager, script runner, monorepo workspaces	bun.sh
Node.js	20+	Runtime compatibility (some tooling depends on Node APIs)	nodejs.org
Git	2.30+	Version control	git-scm.com

Optional tools

Tool	Purpose	When you need it
Zellij	Multi-pane terminal layout for running all 4 dev processes	Recommended for daily development
Wrangler CLI	Cloudflare Workers local dev and deployment	Sandbox worker and agent worker development
Docker	Container runtime for sandbox execution	Running ephemeral AI coding environments locally

macOS

# Install Bun
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Install Node.js 20+ (via Homebrew)
brew install node@20

# Install Zellij (optional)
brew install zellij

Linux

# Install Bun
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Install Node.js 20+ (via NodeSource)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Install Zellij (optional)
cargo install --locked zellij

Required accounts

Account	Tier	Purpose	Sign up
Clerk	Free (development)	Authentication and multi-tenant organization management	clerk.com
Convex	Free	Reactive backend — database, server functions, real-time subscriptions	convex.dev
Anthropic	Pay-as-you-go	Claude API for AI analysis, task decomposition, and code generation	console.anthropic.com

Optional accounts

Account	Tier	Purpose	When you need it
Cloudflare	Free (Workers)	Sandbox worker hosting and agent worker deployment	Running sandbox execution or deploying to production
GitHub (App)	Free	Source control integration — repos, PRs, webhooks	Connecting repositories to programs
Atlassian	Free (developer)	Jira and Confluence integration	Syncing issues and publishing to Confluence
Stripe	Test mode	Billing and subscription management	Enabling billing features

Clerk setup

1. Create a Clerk application at dashboard.clerk.com.
2. Enable Organizations in the Clerk dashboard (Settings > Organizations).
3. Note your Publishable Key (pk_test_...) and Secret Key (sk_test_...).
4. Under Webhooks, create an endpoint pointing to your Convex HTTP actions URL. You will configure the exact URL during the quickstart.

Tip

Use a development instance for local work. Clerk development instances have relaxed rate limits and do not require email verification.

Convex setup

Convex initializes automatically the first time you run bunx convex dev. No manual project creation is needed — the CLI walks you through it. You will need your Convex account credentials.

Anthropic API key

1. Go to console.anthropic.com.
2. Create an API key under API Keys.
3. Add credits to your account. Foundry uses three Claude models (Opus 4.6, Sonnet 4.5 v2, Sonnet 4.5). The minimum practical credit is $5 for evaluation.

Caution

The Anthropic API key is set in the Convex Dashboard environment variables, not in your local .env.local file. Convex actions call the Claude API server-side.

Verify your setup

Run these commands to confirm your tools are ready:

bun --version    # Should print 1.1.x or higher
node --version   # Should print v20.x or higher
git --version    # Should print 2.30.x or higher

Once all required tools and accounts are ready, proceed to the Quickstart.