Getting Started

Cloning the Repository

For Committee Members

1. Clone the repository using the following command:

   git clone https://github.com/icssc/peterportal-client

2. Navigate into the cloned repository:

   cd peterportal-client

For Open Source Contributors

1. Fork the project on GitHub by clicking the fork button in the top right, above the "About" section.

2. Clone your forked repository to your local machine using the following command (replace your username with your GitHub username):

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/peterportal-client

3. Navigate into the cloned repository:

   cd peterportal-client

Installing Dependencies

1. Ensure you have Node.js version 18, 20, or 22 LTS installed. If not, consider using nvm for version management.

2. We use pnpm for our package manager. If you don't have pnpm, install it with npm i -g pnpm.

3. Install all node dependencies by running:

   pnpm install

Setting up Environment Variables

1. Inside the api directory, make a copy of the .env.example file and name it .env
2. Add additional variables as needed for features requiring authentication or database access.

Switching Branches

Before starting your work, switch to a new branch with a relevant name to your task:

git checkout -b [branch-name]

Development

To facilitate the development process, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the project's root directory in your terminal.

2. Run the development servers for both the backend and frontend:

   pnpm run dev

   This command starts the backend Express server and the frontend Vite dev server. Visit the link printed in the console by Vite to view the application.

Alternatively, you can run the backend and frontend separately by navigating to their respective directories and running pnpm run dev in separate terminal windows.