Zeltro › How to run a Bolt.new project locally

Running a Bolt.new project on your own machine

Can you run Bolt.new locally? The builder no, your project yes. How to download a Bolt project or pull it from GitHub, run it on your own computer, deal with the Bolt database, and keep editing it with your own AI.

"Run Bolt.new locally" means one of two things, and the answers are different.

Bolt.new itself, the builder, does not install. It runs in your browser, on Bolt's servers, with Bolt's AI and tokens. Its open-source sibling, bolt.diy, can run on your own machine with your own API keys, but it is a separate project with no shared accounts, and its last release was in May 2025.

Your Bolt project does run locally. Bolt's own docs show you how: download it, install Node.js, npm install && npm run dev. This page is about that, and about what comes next: keeping the project running and keeping it moving once you stop building it inside Bolt.

What a Bolt project is#

Bolt builds JavaScript apps, most often React on Vite, and its backends are JavaScript only. That is good news here: a JavaScript project is the easiest kind to run anywhere.

Step 1: get the code out of Bolt#

There are two ways, and the second is better if you plan to keep going.

Download a zip. Open the project, click its title in the top left, then Export → Download, and unzip it. In Bolt's words, "You can download your project as a zip file to work on it outside of Bolt, using your own code editor."

Connect GitHub. Click the GitHub icon in Bolt, sign in, install Bolt's GitHub App, and create a repository for the project. It starts as a private repo on main. From then on Bolt commits for you: "Every time you make a change that doesn't break the project, Bolt creates a commit for you." It also "checks GitHub every 30 seconds for any updates made outside Bolt and pulls those in", so local work and Bolt can coexist. Do your local work on a branch: if both sides change at the same moment, "Bolt keeps your changes and overwrites the GitHub version."

Step 2: run it, the quick way#

For a first look, this is all you need:

1. Install Node.js.
2. Open a terminal in the project folder.
3. Run npm install && npm run dev.

The front end comes up on whatever port its dev server prints. If the app has a Bolt database, it is still pointing at Bolt Cloud, or it is not connected at all.

Step 2, the way you can keep using#

The quick way is fine once. It gets tedious when there are three of these projects, each on its own port, each with its own Node version, and none with a database of its own.

Zeltro is a free local development platform for exactly that. Every project runs in its own container, every project shares one MariaDB, Postgres, MongoDB and Redis, and your AI agent works inside the project. To bring a Bolt project over from GitHub:

zeltro clone work-directly https://github.com/you/your-bolt-app

From a zip, unzip it into your projects folder (~/zeltro-projects by default) and adopt it:

zeltro setup your-bolt-app

Either way, Zeltro reads package.json, works out the framework (React, Vue, Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Express and more), and sets the project up on Node 22. With an AI agent configured, clone also has it adapt the repository to Zeltro. Then:

zeltro status your-bolt-app

prints its address on this machine and a LAN address for your phone. Nothing to remember, no port to pick, and the next Bolt project you bring over gets its own.

Step 3: the Bolt database#

If the project uses a Bolt database, decide where its data should live:

• Leave it in Bolt Cloud for now while you work on the front end. Remember that local changes then hit real data.
• Claim it into Supabase. Bolt can hand the database over to your own Supabase account from the Database icon's Advanced tab. Bolt's docs say "claiming requires a Pro or Teams plan." Then point the app's .env at your project.
• Move it into a local database. Zeltro already runs Postgres, MariaDB and MongoDB for every project. Get the data out, and have your AI agent load it and rewrite the data layer to use it, step by step, against a database on your own machine.

Do not connect a fresh Supabase database over an existing Bolt database to "move" it: Bolt warns that replacing the connection "may cause data loss."

Step 4: keep editing, without Bolt tokens#

Once the project runs locally, the AI that edits it can be yours. Zeltro has no AI of its own and no tokens to buy. It runs the agent you choose (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Qwen Code, Aider, OpenCode or Hermes) on a subscription you already have, an API key at the provider's own price, or a free local model.

cd ~/zeltro-projects/your-bolt-app
zeltro ai "read AGENTS.md, then add a contact form that saves to the database"

Every project has an AGENTS.md describing its address, database and commands, so the agent starts oriented. See bring your own key, or try your own numbers in the savings calculator.

It also means you are not limited to JavaScript any more. If the app wants a Laravel, Django or FastAPI backend, build it in the next folder over, and the two projects reach each other by name on Zeltro's network.

Sources#

Checked on 18 October 2026: Bolt's projects and files, Git, database: advanced and supported technologies pages. Plans and features change, so check them against your own account.

Questions

Checked 2026-10-18. Other products change often — if something here is out of date, tell us and it gets fixed.