Install

Forven is free and open source and you self-host it: you clone the source repository, run one launcher, and it sets up and starts the whole stack on your own machine. There is no account to create, no installer to download, and no license key — every feature is free under AGPL-3.0-or-later.

This page covers getting Forven running from source. What happens the first time it starts — where your data lives, the setup wizard, getting your first market data, the supported paper mode — is covered in First run & setup. Keeping it up to date is covered in Updating Forven.

Before you start

You need three things on your machine:

• Python 3.11+ — the backend is FastAPI/uvicorn.
• Node.js (with npm) — the frontend is SvelteKit, served by Vite.
• git — to clone the repository, and later to update it.

You do not need a Forven account, a downloaded app, or a license. You bring your own LLM provider key (only if you use the optional agent layer) and, optionally, exchange testnet keys — both stay local and are never sent to any Forven server.

This is a research tool. Forven helps you build and stress-test trading strategies. It does not predict markets, and nothing in these docs is financial advice. The supported way to run it is paper trading — see First run & setup.

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/judder659/Forven.git
cd Forven

Everything below runs from the repository root.

Run it

Windows

$env:START_BOT = '0'
$env:START_DAEMON = '0'
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\start_all.ps1

start_all.ps1 is also the supervisor. It creates .venv, checks your backend dependencies against pyproject.toml and installs anything missing, installs the frontend dependencies, initializes the SQLite database and seeds the core agents, then starts the backend and frontend — and restarts a service that crashes, with backoff. Logs go to .tmp/logs/.

START_BOT=0 skips the optional Discord bot, and START_DAEMON=0 skips a separate daemon process — the backend already hosts the data and risk loop in-process, so you don't need it. Set either to 1 when you want it.

macOS / Linux

python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip && python -m pip install -e .
cd frontend && npm install && cd ..
cp .env.example .env
START_BOT=0 START_DAEMON=0 bash start_all.sh

start_all.sh loads .env if it exists, then starts the stack. The .env copied from .env.example holds the safe defaults: paper execution, localhost binding, the shell tool off.

What you'll see

When the stack is up, the backend listens on http://127.0.0.1:8003 and the frontend on http://127.0.0.1:5173. Confirm the backend is healthy:

# Returns a JSON health summary
curl http://127.0.0.1:8003/api/health

Then open http://127.0.0.1:5173. The first time, a setup wizard walks you through connecting an LLM provider and your basics; you can skip what you don't need. Sample BTC and ETH candles (1h, 4h, and 1d) are loaded on first start, so charts and backtests work before you download anything. There is no login or device-code step.

Windows desktop launcher

On Windows you can run Forven from a small desktop window instead of a terminal. It gives you Start Forven, Stop Forven, Restart Forven, per-service rows for the backend and frontend, live status, recent supervisor activity, and Open Forven to open the app.

• Forven Launcher.vbs in the repository root opens the launcher straight away, no build needed.

• ForvenLauncher.exe is a native host for the same launcher. Build it once with Windows' bundled .NET — no downloads:

  powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\build-launcher.ps1

  Keep the .exe in the Forven folder, and make a desktop shortcut to it if you like.

The launcher is independent of the running app — opening or closing it changes nothing. Stop and Restart interrupt in-flight work and trade monitoring, but they do not close exchange positions; the launcher warns you before either. Stop records a persistent stop intent, so a watchdog won't bring services back until you Start again. The launcher only controls this installation's own processes — it verifies the install path and never kills an unrelated Python process.

This is not an installer: you still clone and run Forven from source. The launcher is a convenience window over the same start_all supervisor.

Bring your own keys

Forven runs the full local research lab — data, backtesting, the gauntlet, and paper trading — with no keys at all. Two kinds of key are optional, both local-only:

• An LLM provider key, only if you use the agent layer. Connect it in the setup wizard or on the Agents → Providers & Keys tab — paste a key, or sign in with OAuth for OpenAI or MiniMax:

  python -m forven auth login openai
  python -m forven auth status

  A key that only sits in an environment variable is not enough to spend with: Forven calls only providers you have connected in the app and models you have enabled. See Models & providers (BYOK).

• HyperLiquid testnet keys, only if you want to exercise the HyperLiquid integration without real funds. Enter them in Settings → HyperLiquid. Paper trading does not need them — it runs on public Binance market data.

Where your data lives

Forven stores everything under one directory — your FORVEN_HOME, which defaults to ~/.forven. It holds your configuration, the SQLite databases, your workspace files, the quant-skills store, and the market-data lake. Nothing is written to a remote server.

First run & setup walks through exactly what gets created.

Optional: change the port or data location

If port 8003 is taken, or you want your data on another drive, set a few environment variables before launch:

# Bind the backend to a different port
$env:FORVEN_PORT = "8010"

# Put all app state somewhere other than ~/.forven
$env:FORVEN_HOME = "D:\forven"

The complete list lives in the environment variables reference.

After installing

• First run & setup — the setup wizard, your data directory, your first market data, and the supported paper mode.
• Quickstart — from a fresh clone to your first paper strategy.
• Updating Forven — in-app updates and what changes between versions.

Caveats

• Self-hosted from source. Forven is not distributed as an installer or packaged desktop app. You clone the repo and run the launcher; the optional Windows launcher window is built from the source in the repo.
• Bring your own keys. Any LLM or exchange credentials you supply stay on your machine.
• Paper is the supported mode. There is no supported path to real orders; live is unsupported and at your own risk. See Execution modes.

Forven is a research tool. Results from the lab describe a strategy's past behavior under test; they are not predictive, and nothing here is financial advice.

Related

• First run & setup
• Running from source — the services, toggles, and launcher internals
• License — Forven is free and open source under AGPL-3.0-or-later.