The Hasura console is an admin dashboard to manage the connected database and to try out GraphQL APIs. It is a React application bundled with webpack and the state is managed using Redux.
The console is served by GraphQL Engine at `/console` endpoint (when `--enable-console` flag is used). Typically runs in **No Migration Mode** which means that actions on the console are not spitting out migration “yaml” files automatically. Most users will be using the Hasura console in this mode.
2. Hasura CLI:
Served by the Hasura CLI using `hasura console` command, typically runs with migration mode **enabled**. All the changes to schema/hasura metadata will be tracked and spit out on the filesystem as migration yaml files and a metadata yaml file. This allows for easy version controlling of the schema/hasura metadata.
## Contributing to Hasura console
This guide is for setting-up the console for development on your own machine, and how to contribute.
Issues in the repo for the console UI are labelled as `c/console`(see [list](https://github.com/hasura/graphql-engine/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen++label%3Ac%2Fconsole)). Issues also labelled as `good first issue` are aimed at those making their first contribution to the repo (see [list](https://github.com/hasura/graphql-engine/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen++label%3Ac%2Fconsole+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22)). Others marked as `help wanted` are those requiring community contributions on priority (see [list](https://github.com/hasura/graphql-engine/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen++label%3Ac%2Fconsole+label%3A%22help+wanted%22)).
Please note that some of these issues, labelled with both `c/console` and `c/server`, are part of a change/task that requires modifications in both the server and the console.
Feel free to open pull requests to address these issues or to add/fix console features, even if a corresponding issue doesn't exist. If you are unsure about whether to go ahead and work on something like the latter, please get in touch with the maintainers in the `GraphQL Engine`->`contrib` channel in the community [Discord](https://discord.gg/vBPpJkS).
Hasura console can be developed in two modes, `server` or `cli` mode. If you are looking to add/tweak functionality related to migrations, check out [Develop with Hasura CLI](#develop-with-hasura-cli-cli-mode), otherwise check out [Develop with Hasura GraphQL engine](#develop-with-hasura-graphql-engine-server-mode).
Both modes require a running instance of GraphQL Engine. The easiest way to get Hasura GraphQL engine instance is by Heroku. You can get it by following the steps given in [this](https://docs.hasura.io/1.0/graphql/manual/getting-started/heroku-simple.html) link. Other methods to install Hasura GraphQL engine are documented [here](https://docs.hasura.io/1.0/graphql/manual/getting-started/index.html).
[Dotenv](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv) is used for setting environment variables for development. In production, these environment variables are templated by the server or CLI.
#### Develop with Hasura GraphQL engine (`server` mode)
In server mode, **migrations** will be disabled and the corresponding functionality on the console will be hidden.
-`DATA_API_URL`: The Hasura GraphQL engine url. (If you are running it on Heroku, it will look like <app-name\>.herokuapp.com,ifyouarerunninglocally,itwilllooklikehttp://localhost:<port\>)
> The server also templates `consolePath` in `window.__env` which is the relative path of the current page (something like `/console/data/schema/public`). Using this path, the console determines the DATA_API_URL in production. You do not need to worry about this in development since you are hardcoding the value of DATA_API_URL in `.env`.
-`DATA_API_URL`: The Hasura GraphQL engine url. (If you are running it on Heroku, it will look like <app-name\>.herokuapp.com,ifyouarerunninglocally,itwilllooklikehttp://localhost:<port\>)
