6. Post-installation tasks

Create the administrator, verify compiles and persistence, and keep a local Ayakaleaf Pro instance running on your Mac.

Create the administrator and a first project

Open http://localhost:8080/launchpad, create the first administrator account and log in. Then follow 6. Post-installation tasks of the Linux guide, using port 8080 in its example URLs.

Verify compilation

A login page that opens does not prove that the separate compiler containers and their data mounts work. Create a blank project and compile this main.tex:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Ayakaleaf Pro on macOS.
\end{document}

The PDF preview should show the text. If needed, select TeX Live 2026 in the project settings.

For a project with Chinese text, select XeLaTeX as the compiler and test:

\documentclass{ctexart}
\begin{document}
你好，Ayakaleaf Pro。
\end{document}

Verify persistence

bin/stop
bin/start

Reopen the project and compile it again. Your account, the source and the project files should still be there. With the default paths, the live data is in the Toolkit’s data/ directory on your Mac.

Keep the instance available

While the Mac sleeps, macOS suspends Docker Desktop’s virtual machine with every container in it: nobody can open the instance, and a compile that is running stops until the Mac wakes up. Only system sleep matters. The display may turn off.

If other people use the instance, or you leave long tasks running, keep the Mac on power and prevent automatic sleep, see Set sleep and wake settings for your Mac:

Mac	Setting
Desktop Mac (Mac mini, iMac, Mac Studio, Mac Pro)	System Settings → Energy: turn on Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off
MacBook	System Settings → Battery → Options: turn on Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off. This only applies while the power adapter is connected, and closing the lid still puts the MacBook to sleep

To keep the Mac awake only for a while, run caffeinate -i in a Terminal window instead. It prevents idle sleep until you press Ctrl+C or close the window.

Docker Desktop is an app in your user session. To have the instance back after a restart, turn on Start Docker Desktop when you sign in to your computer in Docker Desktop Settings → General. The Toolkit’s containers use restart: always, so Docker starts them again once Docker Desktop runs, without bin/up. Until someone signs in to the Mac after a restart, the instance stays down.

A Mac that stays awake uses more power. For a service that must always be reachable, use a Linux server, see Linux.

Daily use

Open Docker Desktop before you manage the instance. In a new terminal:

export PATH="$(brew --prefix gnu-sed)/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
cd "$HOME/ayakaleaf-toolkit"

Task	Command
Start the existing containers	bin/start
Stop the containers and keep the data	bin/stop
Apply configuration changes	bin/up -d
Check the status	bin/docker-compose ps
Read the startup logs	bin/docker-compose logs --tail=100 sharelatex
Read the compiler logs	bin/logs -f clsi

bin/start does not apply changes in config/: run bin/up -d after you edit the configuration. Keep config/ and data/, and follow Data and backups before an upgrade or before you move the installation. Copying the database files while MongoDB writes to them is not a consistent backup.

Keep the instance on 127.0.0.1 for local use. To serve other computers, set the listen address, site URL and HTTPS on purpose, see 5. Personalizing your instance of the Linux guide.

If something does not work, see Troubleshooting.