System Requirements

Using Docker or npm?

If you're running Horizon and Synapse via Docker or npm, most of the build dependencies below are not required. Docker needs only Docker Engine 20+. npm needs only Node.js 20+.

Horizon (API + UI)

Dependency	Version	Notes
Node.js	20+	LTS recommended
pnpm	9+	Workspace-aware package manager
PostgreSQL	15+	Primary data store
ClickHouse	23.8+	Optional — high-volume signal analytics
Redis	7+	Optional — caching and fleet pub/sub

ClickHouse and Redis are optional

Horizon works with PostgreSQL alone. ClickHouse enables time-series queries over large signal volumes. Redis adds shared caching for multi-instance Horizon deployments.

Synapse (Build from Source)

Dependency	Version	Notes
Rust	nightly	Pingora requires nightly features
cmake	3.16+	Build dependency for native crates
OpenSSL	1.1+ or 3.x	TLS support
clang	14+	Required by bindgen

macOS:

brew install cmake openssl

Debian / Ubuntu:

apt-get install -y build-essential cmake libssl-dev libclang-dev pkg-config

Synapse (Pre-built Binary / Docker)

No runtime dependencies. The Docker image uses debian:bookworm-slim.

Target	Base
Docker	debian:bookworm-slim
Linux	x86_64 or aarch64, glibc 2.36+
macOS	13+ (Ventura), Apple Silicon or Intel

Development Environment

Tool	Version	Purpose
Node.js	20+	Horizon API and UI
pnpm	9+	Package management
Rust	nightly	Synapse build
Nx	(workspace)	Task orchestration
just	1.0+	Task runner

Hardware Recommendations

Synapse (per instance)

Scale	CPU	RAM
< 1K rps	1 vCPU	256 MB
1K–10K rps	2 vCPU	512 MB
10K+ rps	4+ vCPU	1 GB+

Horizon

Scale	CPU	RAM	PostgreSQL	ClickHouse
< 10 sensors	2 vCPU	2 GB	Shared	Optional
10–100 sensors	4 vCPU	4 GB	Dedicated	Recommended
100+ sensors	8+ vCPU	8 GB+	HA cluster	Dedicated cluster

Development

4+ cores, 16 GB RAM recommended (Rust compilation is heavily parallel).