DevBoard — Advanced (UI + Go + Postgres).

This is the same DevBoard UI as the master branch, but now the data comes from a real backend instead of fake in-memory data.

Three pieces talk to each other:

browser  →  frontend (React)  →  backend (Go API)  →  database (Postgres)

• frontend — the React app. It also forwards anything starting with /api to the backend.
• backend — a small Go program that reads and writes the database.
• database — Postgres, with some example projects and tasks loaded on first start.

There's no login and no AI here on purpose. The whole point is to see how the pieces connect.

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What you need

• Docker (with Docker Compose, which comes with Docker Desktop).
• That's it. You do not need Node, Go, or Postgres installed — they all run inside containers.

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Part 1 — The manual way (do it by hand to understand it)

Run all commands from this folder. We'll start the three pieces one by one, the hard way, so you can see exactly what Docker Compose does for you later.

Step 1: Create a network

Containers can only find each other by name if they're on the same network. So first we make one:

docker network create devboard-net

Step 2: Build the images

The frontend and backend are our code, so we build an image for each. The database is not our code — it's the official Postgres image — so there's nothing to build for it.

docker build -t devboard-frontend ./frontend
docker build -t devboard-backend ./backend

The first build downloads base images and compiles the code, so it can take a few minutes. Later builds are much faster.

Step 3: Run the database

We name it postgres. The backend will look for it by that exact name. The -v ./init/postgres:... line loads the example data the first time it starts.

docker run -d --name postgres --network devboard-net \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=devboard \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=devboard \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=devboard \
  -v "$PWD/init/postgres":/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d:ro \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  postgres:16-alpine

Step 4: Run the backend

We name it backend (the frontend looks for this name). We also tell it how to reach the database with POSTGRES_URL — notice it uses the name postgres.

docker run -d --name backend --network devboard-net \
  -e PORT=8080 \
  -e POSTGRES_URL="postgres://devboard:devboard@postgres:5432/devboard?sslmode=disable" \
  -p 8081:8080 \
  devboard-backend

Step 5: Run the frontend

It serves the app on port 4173 inside the container; we map it to 8080 on your machine.

docker run -d --name frontend --network devboard-net \
  -p 8080:4173 \
  devboard-frontend

Step 6: Open it and check

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser — you should see the DevBoard dashboard with some example tasks. (If the page shows an error for a second on first load, the backend is still starting up — just refresh.)

Then check the wiring from the terminal:

curl http://localhost:8081/health                      # backend says OK
curl "http://localhost:8080/api/tasks?project_id=1"    # app → backend → database

Step 7: Stop and clean up

docker rm -f frontend backend postgres
docker network rm devboard-net

The one thing to remember: names

The backend finds the database using the name postgres (see POSTGRES_URL). The frontend finds the backend using the name backend (see frontend/vite.config.js). So those container names must match, and they only work because everything is on the same devboard-net network.

That's a lot of typing, and you have to start them in the right order. This is exactly the problem Docker Compose solves.

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Part 2 — The easy way: Docker Compose

Compose does everything from Part 1 — the network, the names, the order, the environment values — from one file (docker-compose.yml).

First, create your settings file (one time only). Compose reads it to fill in passwords and ports, so the stack won't start without it:

cp .env.example .env

Then start everything with one command:

docker compose up --build

The first build can take a few minutes. When it's done, open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Stop it:

docker compose down

Piece	Open in browser / curl	Notes
Frontend	http://localhost:8080	the app; forwards /api to the backend
Backend	http://localhost:8081/health	the Go API (the app uses it via /api)
Postgres	localhost:5432	user / password: devboard / devboard

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Part 3 — The shortcut: make

You don't even have to remember the Compose commands. Run make to see what's available:

make           # list all commands
make setup     # create your .env file (first time only)
make up        # build and start everything
make down      # stop everything
make logs      # watch the logs
make reset     # wipe the database and start fresh
make smoke     # quick check that everything works

make up creates .env for you automatically, so it's the simplest way to start.

make is optional. It's already available on Linux and macOS (on macOS you may need Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select --install). On Windows, either use WSL or just run the docker compose commands from Part 2 directly.

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Settings live in .env

All the changeable values (passwords, ports) live in one file. The first time, copy the example:

cp .env.example .env     # or: make setup

.env.example is the template kept in git. Your real .env is ignored by git, so in a real project your secrets never get committed.

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The API (for reference)

The browser calls these as /api/...; the backend serves them at the root.

Method	Path	What it does
GET	/projects	list projects
POST	/projects	create a project
GET	/tasks?project_id=N	list tasks in a project
POST	/tasks	create a task
PATCH	/tasks/:id	update a task (e.g. change status)
GET	/search?q=&project_id=N	search tasks by title
GET	/health	health check

Folder layout

.
├── docker-compose.yml   starts frontend + backend + postgres together
├── Makefile             short commands (make up, make down, ...)
├── .env.example         template for settings (copy to .env)
├── frontend/            React app (Vite). Serves the UI, forwards /api
├── backend/             Go API (main.go + Dockerfile)
└── init/postgres/       schema + example data, loaded on first start