Get started with Turbine

Turbine is a data application framework for building server-side applications that are event-driven, respond to data in real-time, and scale using cloud-native best practices.

This guide will bring you through the steps to initialize, develop, deploy, and release using our application framework within a fraction of the time similar projects typically take.

note

The Meroxa Platform and Turbine Application Framework are currently in beta. For an overview of the beta, check out the beta overview.

Setup

1. Sign up for a Meroxa account here.

2. Install the latest Meroxa Command Line Interface (CLI). Refer to our installation guide for all available install and update methods.

3. Authenticate and log in to your Meroxa account.

   $ meroxa login
   
   You will now be taken to your browser for authentication or open the URL below in a browser.
   https://auth.meroxa.io/authorize(redacted)

4. Ensure Git is installed and set up locally on your machine. You can check by running git --version. If not installed, refer to the following installation and set up guides:

   • Installing Git
   • First-Time Git Setup

Create resources

Before initializing a data application, make sure to configure resources.

Resources are reusable configurations on the Meroxa Platform used to connect your data. Resources can be used upstream (as a data source) or downstream (as a data destination) in your data application.

Check out the resource overview for more information on how to create resources.

Initialize your data application

Once you have completed the setup steps and created resources, you are ready to initialize your data application.

Upon initialization, Turbine automatically scaffolds a codebase in an empty Git repository. Because the application framework uses Git to manage deployments and releases, you must track your codebase and commit before deploying.

JavaScript

Requirements

• Latest Go version

  Use the meroxa app init command and provide a name, language, and local path for your data application.

  # You can use the alias `go` in place of `golang`.
  $ meroxa app init liveapp --lang go --path ~/apps
  Initializing application "liveapp" in "/path/to/apps"...
  Initializing the application's go module...
  Downloading dependencies...
  Application successfully initialized!
  You can start interacting with Meroxa in your app located at "/path/to/apps/liveapp"

• Note: To default the local path to your current directory, omit the --path argument.

Go

Requirements

• Latest Python version.
• pip package manager (automatically installed if Python is downloaded from python.org).
• pip install turbine-py to install the Meroxa Turbine Python library.

Use the meroxa app init command and provide a name, language, and local path for your data application.

# You can use the alias `py` in place of `python`.
$ meroxa app init liveapp --lang py --path ~/apps
Initializing application "liveapp" in "/path/to/apps"...

Application successfully initialized!
You can start interacting with Meroxa in your app located at "/path/to/apps/liveapp"

• Note: To default the local path to your current directory, omit the --path argument.

Python

Requirements

• Latest Node.js version in LTS

• Latest npm (comes packaged with Node.js)

  Use the meroxa app init command and provide a name, language, and local path for your data application.

  # You can use the alias `js` in place of `javascript`.
  $ meroxa app init liveapp --lang js --path ~/apps
  Initializing application "liveapp" in "/path/to/apps"...
  
  Application successfully initialized!
  You can start interacting with Meroxa in your app located at "/path/to/apps/liveapp"

• Note: To default the local path to your current directory, omit the --path argument.

Ruby

Turbine Ruby is currently in Developer Preview and has limited functionality. If you wish to participate, sign up here and a member of our team will follow up to discuss the steps to get the feature enabled. With this version of Turbine Ruby, you will be able run and deploy a Turbine Ruby application.

Requirements

• Recommended: Choose one of the following Ruby version management tools of choice:

  • rbenv
  • RVM
  • asdf

• Latest Ruby version. If you have a Ruby version management tool installed, you can install ruby through your version management tool and specify which version you would like installed for your development use case.

• Clone the following repository to obtain an example application you can copy:

  $ git clone https://github.com/meroxa/turbine-examples.git

  • https://github.com/meroxa/turbine-examples

• You’ll also need to download the Meroxa CLI.

Initializing

In this current version of Turbine Ruby, the init command is not yet available. The init command will automatically scaffold a codebase in an empty Git repository. Without the init command, you will first need to initialize an empty Git repository because the application framework uses Git to manage deployments and releases. You must track your codebase and commit before deploying.

Select or create a directory you will be developing your Turbine Ruby application. In that directory, you will initialize an empty Git repository using the git init command. Executing this command will create a new .git subdirectory in your current working directory. After initializing the Git Repository, in the same directory copy turbine-examples/ruby/simple/ files from the cloned turbine-examples repository.

What's Next?

Once you have initialized your data application, you're ready to start developing!

Next up: Developing your data application