Set Up Backend

To be able to build and work on the backend components, it is necessary to have Python and Docker Compose installed.

Python

Since most of the backend is written in Python, it is necessary to have a Python interpreter installed. Please refer here for the latest releases. It is recommended to have at least Python 3.11 installed for this project.

Also, it is recommended to have a virtual environment set up for the project. One possibility for that is installing conda. Another option is to just create a venv. Using a virtual environment has the advantage to provide an own environment where you can install all necessary Python packages without having those in your general Python environment.

Docker / Docker Compose

The whole project is executed via Docker containers. Because of this, it is necessary to have Docker and Docker Compose installed on your machine when working on it.

Docker separates the different components of the project into so-called containers. Each of those containers acts on an own virtualization layer. With Docker Compose, all those specific containers can be built and act together as one project.

A guide on how to install Docker on Linux can be found here. On Windows, Docker Desktop can be installed. Please keep in mind that on Windows WSL2 also needs to be installed for Docker to work.

After Docker is installed, Docker Compose can be installed using this guide.