---
title: "Introduction"
description: "Fastcart is a lightweight, self-hosted, multi-store commerce platform built with Rust and React."
---

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

# Introduction

Fastcart is a lightweight, self-hosted, multi-store commerce platform built with Rust and React.
It pairs a single Rust modular monolith with one SQLite database per store, an operational React
admin, and a process-isolated universal SSR runtime.

> **New here?**
>
> Start with the [quickstart](https://docs.fastcart.dev/quickstart/) to build the workspace, create your first store, and run
> the API and admin locally.

## What you can do

- **Run your own commerce stack.** One binary, SQLite storage, and no mandatory Docker, Redis,
  PostgreSQL, or message broker.
- **Operate multiple stores.** Every store owns an isolated database and is resolved from the
  request `Host` header on storefront routes.
- **Extend the platform.** Commerce modules are independent crates, and capabilities are exposed
  through provider interfaces, plugins, workflows, and an auditable AI tool registry.

## Get started

1. **Build the workspace**

   ```sh
   cargo build --workspace
   ```
2. **Initialize the platform**

   ```sh
   cargo run -p fastcart-cli -- init --dir .
   ```
3. **Create an owner account**

   ```sh
   cargo run -p fastcart-cli -- user create \
     --email owner@example.com --password 'change-me-please'
   ```
4. **Create a store**

   ```sh
   cargo run -p fastcart-cli -- store create \
     --name "Demo Store" --slug demo --domain shop.example.com \
     --owner-email owner@example.com
   ```
5. **Serve the API**

   ```sh
   cargo run -p fastcart-cli -- serve
   ```

The API listens on `http://localhost:8080` by default. In another terminal, run the admin with
`pnpm dev:admin` and open `http://localhost:5174`.

## Explore the platform

- [Quickstart](https://docs.fastcart.dev/quickstart/) — install, bootstrap, and run Fastcart.
- [Storefront SSR](https://docs.fastcart.dev/storefront-ssr/) — how a framework build becomes a supervised `workerd`
  runtime and renders pages.
- [Repository README](https://github.com/luozhouyang/fastcart#readme) — backend modules, APIs, and
  configuration.
- [Architecture decisions](https://github.com/luozhouyang/fastcart/tree/main/.livingdocs/adr) —
  the records behind the platform design.

Source: https://docs.fastcart.dev/index.mdx