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This guide walks you through the fastest path to a working Devset setup. By the end you’ll have Devset running locally, connected to a broker, and you’ll have dispatched your first message and executed your first workflow.
All data you create in Devset — connector configurations, schemas, and workflow definitions — is persisted in the Docker volume devset-data. Removing the container without removing the volume keeps your data intact.
1

Start Devset with Docker

Run the following command to pull the latest Devset image and start the container. The -v devset-data:/data flag mounts a named volume so your data survives container restarts.
docker run -p 8082:8082 -v devset-data:/data ghcr.io/devset-io/devset-ce:latest
Wait for the log output to show the application has started. You’ll see a Spring Boot startup banner followed by a line indicating the server is listening on port 8082.
2

Open the Devset UI

Open your browser and navigate to:
http://localhost:8082
The Devset frontend is served directly by the backend — there’s no separate process to start. You should see the Devset home screen immediately.
3

Connect your first broker

Before you can dispatch messages or run workflows, you need to register at least one broker connector.
  1. Click Settings in the left sidebar.
  2. Select Kafka Connectors or RabbitMQ Connectors depending on your broker.
  3. Click Add Connector and fill in the connection details.
Example Kafka connector values:
Name:             local-kafka
Bootstrap Server: localhost:9092
Example RabbitMQ connector values:
Name:     local-rabbit
Host:     localhost
Port:     5672
Username: guest
Password: guest
Vhost:    /
  1. Click Save. Devset will test the connection and display a confirmation when it succeeds.
If your broker is running inside Docker, use host.docker.internal instead of localhost so Devset can reach it from inside its own container.
4

Send your first message

With a connector in place, you can dispatch a single message using Message Dispatch — Devset’s Postman-style message sender.
  1. Click Message Dispatch in the left sidebar.
  2. Select your connector from the dropdown.
  3. For Kafka, enter a Topic name. For RabbitMQ, enter an Exchange and optional Routing Key.
  4. Type a JSON payload in the message body editor:
{
  "event": "user.signed_up",
  "userId": "u_01J9XZ",
  "timestamp": "2024-11-01T10:00:00Z"
}
  1. Click Send. Devset dispatches the message to your broker and shows a success confirmation.
5

Build your first workflow

Workflows let you compose and replay sequences of messages as a single executable scenario.
  1. Click Flow Builder in the left sidebar.
  2. Click New Workflow and give it a name.
  3. Drag a Publish stage onto the canvas from the stage palette.
  4. Configure the stage: select your connector, enter a topic, and provide a JSON payload.
  5. Click Run Workflow. Devset executes the workflow and streams the results back to the canvas.
Each stage shows a pass/fail status inline. Open Workflow Runs in the sidebar to browse the full execution history.

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Next steps

Flow Builder Guide

Learn how to build multi-stage pipelines, use variables, and chain events together on the canvas.

Installation

Explore Docker Compose setups and building Devset from source for local development.