[HOW TO] How to run OPNsense in dev mode?

[gideon]

I'm having trouble setting up OPNsense 25.1 in development mode.
Following the documentation, I've completed these steps:

- Created a VM running FreeBSD 24.2 and added the OPNsense package repository
- Installed Python 3.11.11 and PHP 8.3.15
- Cloned the opnsense/core repository
- Ran "make package" with root permissions in the core directory to install dependencies
- Ran "make mount" with root permissions in the core directory

According to the documentation which states "Yes, the changes that you make in the repository will show up directly in the GUI now!", I expected to access the web interface through:

- URL https://127.0.0.1 directly from the VM, or
- URL https://<vm-ip-address> from the host machine

However, when attempting to access either URL, I receive a "refused to connect" error.
Could you help identify what steps I might have missed or done incorrectly in this setup process?

Thank you!

[Patrick M. Hausen]

As far as I know you need an OPNsense installation, not a stock FreeBSD.