> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.obsidianlog.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Building From Source

> Build ObsidianLog from source, run its tests, and choose which features to compile in.

ObsidianLog isn't published to crates.io yet, so building from source
means cloning the repository directly:

```sh theme={null}
git clone https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog
cd ObsidianLog
```

## Building

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Default (local test)">
    ```sh theme={null}
    cargo build --release
    ```

    Builds the whole workspace without Sia support. `obsidianlog init` still
    defaults to the local backend, and `serve`/`query`/`verify` work fully
    against it. Sia isn't reachable from this build at all: if a config
    points at a Sia indexer anyway, those commands fail with a clear error
    instead of silently using local storage.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="With Sia">
    ```sh theme={null}
    cargo build -p obsidianlog-cli --release --features sia
    ```

    Builds `obsidianlog` with Sia support included. The official release
    binaries already include this, so most people don't need this command
    at all, it only matters if you're building from source.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

Either way, the binary lands at `target/release/obsidianlog`. Want it on
your `PATH` instead of just built locally? Use `cargo install --path
crates/obsidianlog-cli` (add `--features sia` for Sia support) to install
it into your Cargo bin directory.

## Testing

```sh theme={null}
# Default features: the Sia code isn't compiled or exercised.
cargo test --workspace

# Everything, including the Sia integration code paths.
cargo test --workspace --all-features
```

See [Contributing](/project/contributing) for the full set of checks CI
runs before a PR is reviewed. `--all-features` compiles and exercises the
Sia code paths, but skips the live-network test without real credentials.
To actually run it against a real Sia indexer, see
[Testing Against a Live Sia Indexer](/project/testing-against-sia).

## Feature flags

| Flag  | What it enables                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | Default |
| ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
| `sia` | The real Sia backend for `serve`/`query`/`verify`, and the `onboard` example used to connect an app to a Sia indexer. Without it, a Sia-configured install fails with a clear error rather than silently falling back to local. | Off     |

Sia is kept behind a flag instead of being on by default because the
underlying SDK is pre-1.0. See
[ADR-0006](https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog/blob/main/docs/adr/0006-sia-integration.md)
for the full reasoning, it's not required reading to use this page.

## Running the standalone ingest server directly

`obsidianlog-ingest` is a standalone binary you can run without the CLI.
Unlike `obsidianlog serve` (which manages the key for you), the standalone
binary never reads its encryption key from the config file. It refuses to
start until you pass one via `OBSIDIANLOG_ENCRYPTION_KEY` (a 64-character hex
string) or `OBSIDIANLOG_ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE` (a path to a file containing
that string, the convention for a mounted Docker/Kubernetes secret):

```sh theme={null}
OBSIDIANLOG_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32) ./target/release/obsidianlog-ingest
```

The `obsidianlog` CLI's `init`/`serve` manage this key for you instead. See
[obsidianlog init](/cli/init) and [obsidianlog serve](/cli/serve).