# Running in development mode

## Backend

### 1.1 Prerequisites

To run the backend, you need to have Python 3.9 (we're using v3.9.5) installed.

{% hint style="danger" %}
The Python version has to be below 3.10 [because of dbt-postgres](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-core/issues/2827#issuecomment-1022860423).
{% endhint %}

### 1.2 Installation

First, install the dependencies in a new virtual environment by running the following command from inside the `kuwala/core/backend` directory:

```shell-session
DBT_PSYCOPG2_NAME=psycopg2 pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt --no-binary dbt-postgres
```

To set up a new virtual environment, you can follow the steps outlined [here](https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/guides/installing-using-pip-and-virtual-environments/).

### 1.3 Launching

First, start the backend database by running the following command from inside the `root` directory of the repository:

```shell-session
docker-compose --profile backend_database up
```

After you installed all requirements, you can launch the API by running the following command from inside the `kuwala/core/backend` directory:

```shell-session
python3 app/main.py
```

To force the API server to reload everytime when code changes have been detected, simply pass `--dev=True` as a parameter when launching the API.

```shell-session
python3 app/main.py --dev=True
```

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** You need to set the following environment variables:

```shell
DATABASE_USER=kuwala
DATABASE_PASSWORD=password
DATABASE_NAME=kuwala
DATABASE_HOST=localhost
```

{% endhint %}

## Frontend

### 2.1 Prerequisites

To run the frontend, you need to have Node.js (we're using v16) together with npm installed.

### 2.2 Installation

Install the dependencies by running the following command from inside the `kuwala/core/canvas` directory.

```shell-session
npm ci
```

### 2.3 Launching

To launch the frontend, run:

```shell-session
npm start
```

Now open [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000/) in your browser, and you are good to go. 🚀


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