trying to run better-auth demo locally

[gregordimi]

Is this suited for github?

• Yes, this is suited for github

To Reproduce

I have tried following the instructions listed at https://www.better-auth.com/docs/examples/next-js linking to https://github.com/better-auth/better-auth/tree/canary/demo/nextjs but unfortunately it did not work for me.

Current vs. Expected behavior

I expected to be able to run the demo locally as instead I've got an error most likely related to:

"better-auth": "workspace:*",
"better-call": "catalog:",

Afterwards I've tried to building the package from the monorepo first and then install and run the example demo app, but that did not work either, yet resulted in different issues.

What version of Better Auth are you using?

latest

System info

n/a

Which area(s) are affected? (Select all that apply)

Documentation

Auth config (if applicable)

import { betterAuth } from "better-auth"
export const auth = betterAuth({
  emailAndPassword: {  
    enabled: true
  },
});

Additional context

It would be great if you can include a working demo and proper instructions, as there are issues with all of the demo/boilerplates that I found around.

[dosubot]

Hi @gregordimi! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the better-auth team.

The demo’s package.json uses workspace dependencies like "better-auth": "workspace:*", which means you need to build the monorepo packages before running the demo. The README doesn’t mention this, but a standard install in demo/nextjs alone won’t work because those dependencies point to local packages that must be built and linked first (source).

Here’s a typical setup for monorepo demos like this:

1. From the repo root, run your package manager’s install (e.g. pnpm install, yarn install, or npm install).
2. Build all packages from the root (often pnpm build or yarn build if there’s a root build script).
3. Then, go to demo/nextjs, set up your .env file, and run the dev server (pnpm dev, yarn dev, or npm run dev).

If you skip the monorepo build step, you’ll get errors about missing or unresolved workspace dependencies. The documentation should be updated to clarify this requirement (source).

If you run into TypeScript errors, the demo is set to ignore build errors in next.config.ts, so it should still start (source). For database setup, make sure your .env matches the dialect you want (MySQL or Turso) (source).

Let me know if you hit a specific error after following these steps!

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[himself65]

Yeah, this is a regression when we migrate to the separate repo. Feel free to open the PR to fix it

/cc @Bekacru

[Cosmicist]

I'm havig the same problem with svelte-kit-example, the readme does say to run npm install from the root, but it fails, since there is no package.json on the root:  ERR_PNPM_NO_PKG_MANIFEST  No package.json found in /.../examples

And trying to install directly from the example I get:

npm error code EUNSUPPORTEDPROTOCOL
npm error Unsupported URL Type "workspace:": workspace:*