Setup (Frontend + Backend)

This repo has a React frontend (client) and a Flask backend (backend). Follow these steps to run both locally on Windows (PowerShell).

Prerequisites

• Node.js LTS (includes npm)
• Python 3.11+ (with pip)

1) Start the Backend (Flask)

# From the repo root
cd .\backend

# Create & activate virtual environment (recommended)
python -m venv .venv
. .\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the API (http://127.0.0.1:5000)
python .\app.py

Health check: http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/health

Uploads are served from: http://127.0.0.1:5000/uploads/

2) Start the Frontend (React + Vite)

# In a new PowerShell window, from the repo root
cd .\client
npm install
npm run dev

The dev server prints a local URL (usually http://127.0.0.1:5173 or http://localhost:5173).

Dev Proxy (no CORS needed)

Vite is configured to proxy API and uploads to Flask during development:

• /api -> http://127.0.0.1:5000
• /uploads -> http://127.0.0.1:5000

So the frontend can call fetch('/api/...') and use image URLs like /uploads/<file> without extra CORS config.

Production (brief)

• Frontend: build static assets

cd .\client
npm run build

This produces client/dist. Serve it with any static server or behind a reverse proxy (e.g., Nginx).

• Backend: run with a production WSGI server (e.g., gunicorn/uvicorn via pip install gunicorn/uvicorn), and reverse proxy /api and /uploads from your web server to the backend. Keep backend/uploads/ on persistent storage.

Notes

• If Flask imports fail, ensure the venv is activated before running python .\app.py.
• If ports are busy, either close the process using the port or change the port (Vite supports --port, Flask via env PORT).