Intermediate_Winter_2026_Team_2

Tech stack: Django + Next.js Template

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/codersforcauses/Intermediate_Winter_2026_Team_2.git

2. Set up the Python virtual environment

   cd server
   python -m venv .venv
   .venv\Scripts\activate   # For Windows
   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure environment variables (optional for local dev)

   Local development works out of the box with no setup — sensible defaults are used automatically. If you want to override anything (e.g. for a production deploy), copy the template and fill it in:

   cp .env.example .env   # still inside server/

   See server/.env.example for what each variable does (SECRET_KEY, DEBUG, ALLOWED_HOSTS, CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS). .env is gitignored, so it's safe to put real secrets in it.

4. Set up the database

   python manage.py migrate

   Optionally create an admin account so you can use the Django admin site at http://localhost:8000/admin/:

   python manage.py createsuperuser

5. Run the Django backend

   python manage.py runserver

   Runs at http://localhost:8000.

6. Set up and run Next.js (in a separate terminal, from the repo root)

   cd client
   npm install   # installs all dependencies, including lucide-react for icons
   npm run dev

   Runs at http://localhost:3000. The Next.js API routes proxy to Django at http://localhost:8000 by default; set DJANGO_API_URL in client/.env.local to point elsewhere.

Both servers need to be running at the same time for the app to work Django on port 8000 and Next.js on port 3000.