Local development

Everything you need to develop against Meridian without deploying.

Environment variables

MERIDIAN_API_KEY=mrnd_test_4f8e2c1a9b7d3e5f6a0c
WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_your_signing_secret

• Only test keys locally - never .env a mrnd_live_ key.
• SDKs read MERIDIAN_API_KEY automatically when no key is passed.

Tunneling webhooks to localhost

Endpoints in test accept non-HTTPS tunnel URLs - expose your local server:

ngrok http 3000
# → https://a1b2c3.ngrok.app

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3000
# → https://random-words.trycloudflare.com

meridian listen --forward localhost:3000/webhooks/meridian
# built-in tunnel + live delivery log

Register the tunnel URL as a test endpoint - then every test event hits your local handler in real time.

CLI shortcuts

The meridian CLI is the fastest local loop:

meridian listen --forward localhost:3000/webhooks/meridian   # tunnel + tail
meridian events tail --project prj_9kLm2xVb7nQe              # live event feed
meridian simulate event --type project.updated               # fire a test event
meridian projects list                                       # quick API calls

meridian listen prints each delivery (payload, headers, your response status) - the local equivalent of the dashboard's delivery log.

Fixtures and seed data

For repeatable setups, keep fixtures in your repo:

{
  "name": "dev-fixture",
  "region": "us-east",
  "metadata": { "purpose": "local-dev" }
}

meridian projects create --file fixtures/project.json
meridian simulate event --type project.updated --project <id>

The examples repo ships ready-made fixtures for every event type under fixtures/.

Suggested project layout

Common pitfalls

• Signature fails locally - you're parsing JSON before verifying. The handler must read the raw body (see Webhooks).
• 404 on a resource that "exists" - it exists in live; your local key is test. Check the environment.
• Tunnel drops events - free tunnels sleep; re-register the new URL, or use meridian listen which keeps a stable address while running.