Bench is a command-line utility that helps you to install, update, and manage multiple sites for Frappe/ERPNext applications on *nix systems[^nix] for development and production.
We recommend using either the Docker Installation or the Easy Install Script to setup a Production Environment. For Development, you may choose either of the three methods to setup an instance.
Otherwise, if you are looking to evaluate ERPNext, you can also download the [Virtual Machine Image](https://erpnext.com/download) or register for [a free trial on erpnext.com](https://erpnext.com/pricing).
A Frappe/ERPNext instance can be setup and replicated easily using Docker[^docker]. The officially supported Docker installation can be used to setup either of both Development and Production environments.
A quick setup guide for both the envionments can be found below. For more details, check out the [Frappe/ERPNext Docker Repository](https://github.com/frappe/frappe_docker).
To setup a development environment for Docker, follow the [Frappe/ERPNext Docker for Development Guide](https://github.com/frappe/frappe_docker/blob/develop/development/README.md).
Optionally, you may also setup an NGINX Proxy for SSL Certificates[^nginx-ssl] with auto-renewal for your Production instance. We recommend this for instances being accessed over the internet. For this to work, the DNS needs to be configured correctly so that LetsEncrypt[^letsencrypt] can verify the domain. To setup the proxy, run the following commands:
**Note:** The Production setup does not contain, require, or use bench. For a list of substitute commands, check out the [Frappe/ERPNext Docker Site Operations](https://github.com/frappe/frappe_docker/#site-operations).
The Easy Install script should get you going with a Frappe/ERPNext setup with minimal manual intervention and effort. Since there are a lot of configurations being automatically setup, we recommend executing this script on a fresh server.
**Note:** This script works only on GNU/Linux based server distributions, and has been designed and tested to work on Ubuntu 16.04+, CentOS 7+, and Debian-based systems.
The script should then prompt you for the MySQL root password and an Administrator password for the Frappe/ERPNext instance, which will then be saved under `$HOME/passwords.txt` of the user used to setup the instance. This script will then install the required stack, setup bench and a default ERPNext instance.
When the setup is complete, you will be able to access the system at `http://<your-server-ip>`, wherein you can use the administrator password to login.
#### Troubleshooting
In case the setup fails, the log file is saved under `/tmp/logs/install_bench.log`. You may then:
- Create an Issue in this repository with the log file attached.
- Search for an existing issue or post the log file on the [Frappe/ERPNext Discuss Forum](https://discuss.erpnext.com/c/bench) with the tag `installation_problem` under "Install/Update" category.
For more information and advanced setup instructions, check out the [Easy Install Documentation](https://github.com/frappe/bench/blob/master/docs/easy_install.md).
Although not recommended, some might want to manually setup a bench instance locally for development. To quickly get started on installing bench the hard way, you can follow [Installing Bench and Frappe](https://frappe.io/docs/user/en/installation).
- **Optional**: If the database for the site does not reside on localhost or listens on a custom port, you can use the flags `--db-host` to set a custom host and/or `--db-port` to set a custom port.
For more in-depth information on commands and their usage, follow [Commands and Usage](https://github.com/frappe/bench/blob/master/docs/commands_and_usage.md). As for a consolidated list of bench commands, check out [Bench Usage](https://github.com/frappe/bench/blob/master/docs/bench_usage.md).
## Custom Bench Commands
If you wish to extend the capabilities of bench with your own custom Frappe Application, you may follow [Adding Custom Bench Commands](https://github.com/frappe/bench/blob/master/docs/bench_custom_cmd.md).
## Bench Manager
[Bench Manager](https://github.com/frappe/bench_manager) is a GUI frontend for Bench with the same functionalties. You can install it by executing the following command:
```sh
$ bench setup manager
```
- **Note:** This will create a new site to setup Bench Manager, if you want to set it up on an existing site, run the following commands:
