GridLock

Energy grid simulation with a Next.js frontend and a FastAPI backend.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ (with pip)
• Node.js 18+ (with npm)

Backend

Run these from the repository root (GridLock/).

1. Create and activate a virtual environment (recommended):

   python -m venv .venv
   .\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

   On macOS/Linux:

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Start the API server (defaults to http://127.0.0.1:8000):

   python -m uvicorn backend.api.server:app --reload --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

   If python is not available as a command on Windows, use:

   py -m uvicorn backend.api.server:app --reload --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

   Check it is up: open or request http://127.0.0.1:8000/health.

Frontend

Run these from the frontend/ directory.

1. Install dependencies:

   cd frontend
   npm install

2. Start the dev server:

   npm run dev

   The app is usually at http://localhost:3000.

The UI expects the API at http://127.0.0.1:8000. To use a different URL, set:

set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000
npm run dev

(PowerShell: $env:NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL="http://127.0.0.1:8000". On Unix, use export.)

Production-style runs

• Frontend: npm run build then npm start (from frontend/).
• Backend: same python -m uvicorn command without --reload for a stable process.

Typical workflow

1. Terminal 1: start the backend with python -m uvicorn from the repo root.
2. Terminal 2: cd frontend, npm run dev.
3. Use the browser on the Next.js URL; it will call the local API.