How to Install ERPNext on MacOS

ERPNext is one of the most popular, free and open source ERP system. ERPNext is a cloud based integrated Enterprise Resource Planning software that supports manufacturing, distribution, retail, trading, services, education, non profits, healthcare and more.

In this guide, we’ll learn how to set up ERPNext on your MacOS, install required dependencies, configure the database configurations and install frappe-bench CLI tool to manage multiple sites and apps based on Frappe Framework.  

Installing ERPNext on macOS can be a bit different to other operating systems, as it requires setting up a virtual environment to run ERPNext. Frappe framework is a full-stack web based framework based on Python, so it uses the virtual environment to setup isolated environments for multiple Python versions. Officially Frappe only supports two OS viz. MacOS and Debian/ Ubuntu.

Frappe Architecture

Here's a step-by-step guide to help you install ERPNext on macOS:

Pre-requisites:

1. a macOS device
2. pre-installed command line version of Xcode tools

Step 1 - Install Homebrew

Ensure that you have Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) installed on your macOS. If not, install it by running the following command in your terminal:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Step 2 - Install required dependencies

Open Terminal (Command + Space, type "Terminal," and hit Enter) and run the following commands one by one:

brew install python@3.9 mariadb@10.3 redis@5.0

brew services start mariadb@10.3 redis@5.0

Step 3 - Install Node.js

ERPNext requires Node.js. You can install it using Homebrew:

brew install node

Step 4 - Install wkhtmltopdf

ERPNext needs wkhtmltopdf to generate PDFs. Download the macOS version from the official website and install it:

Go to https://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html and download the macOS version. Once downloaded, double-click on the installer to install it.

Step 5 - Install wkhtmltoimage

ERPNext also requires wkhtmltoimage. Download it from the official website and install it:

Go to https://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html and download the macOS version of wkhtmltoimage. Once downloaded, double-click on the installer to install it.

Step 6 - Install ERPNext using Pip

Now you're ready to install ERPNext itself. Open Terminal and create a new folder where you want to store the ERPNext files:

mkdir erpnext
cd erpnext

Next, create a Python virtual environment and activate it:

python3 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate

Now, install ERPNext using pip:

pip install frappe-bench
bench init frappe-bench --frappe-branch version-13
cd frappe-bench
bench new-site erpnext.local

Step 7 - Configure ERPNext:

Edit the site_config.json file to set up the database settings:

nano sites/erpnext.local/site_config.json

In the editor, add the following lines (you can use any password of your choice):

"db_name": "erpnext",
"db_password": "your_db_password"

Save and close the file (Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter).

Step 8 - Setup ERPNext using bench:

Now, run the ERPNext installation command:

bench --site erpnext.local install-app erpnext

Step 9 - Run ERPNext:

Finally, start the development server to run ERPNext:

bench start

You should be able to access the Frappe ERPNext application by opening a web browser and navigating to the following URL:

http://localhost:8000

Congratulations! You have successfully installed ERPNext on macOS.

Please note that this is only for local development setup. For production setup of ERPNext, you would need to follow a different approach with proper server configuration and security considerations.

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