Watch movies together, from anywhere. Lisa is a Netflix-styled watch-party app for long-distance friends and couples — synchronized playback, live chat, video calls, and a shared movie wishlist, all in one dark, cinematic interface.
Built with Django. Designed to feel like Netflix, behave like a cinema you share with someone far away.
Now
- 🎨 Netflix-style home, browse rows, and billboard hero
- 🔐 Email + Google sign-in, registration, password reset (with show/hide password)
- 📧 Account activation email
Planned (see ROADMAP.md)
- 👥 Friends / contacts and party invites
- 🛋️ Watch parties — synchronized play / pause / seek across viewers
- 💬 Real-time chat in the room
- 📹 Face-cam video calls while you watch (WebRTC)
- 🔎 Movie search & posters via TMDb, plus "request a movie" with voting
- 🔔 Real-time notifications · 📅 schedule movie nights (.ics)
| Layer | Choice |
|---|---|
| Backend | Django 6 · Python 3.14 |
| Auth | Custom email-login user · Google OAuth (social_django) |
| Frontend | Django templates · Tailwind (CDN) · Alpine.js · Font Awesome |
| Database | SQLite (dev) → PostgreSQL (planned) |
| Real-time | Django Channels + Redis (planned) |
| Media/AV | HLS/HTTP video · WebRTC for calls (planned) |
| Metadata | TMDb API (planned) |
| Hosting | Self-host (old PC) behind Cloudflare Tunnel (planned) |
Core architecture rule: video and control are separate channels. The movie streams
over HTTP/HLS/WebRTC; WebSockets carry only tiny JSON control messages ({"type":"play","time":120.5}).
# 1. Activate the bundled virtualenv (or create your own)
source venv/bin/activate
# 2. Configure secrets
cp .env.example .env # then fill in the values (see below)
# 3. Migrate and run
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver
# → http://127.0.0.1:8000/home/GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=...
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=...
EMAIL_HOST_USER=you@gmail.com # Gmail address
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # Gmail App Password (16 chars, not your login pw)
⚠️ After editing.env, restart the dev server — Django does not auto-reload on.envchanges.
DESIGN.md— the visual design systemROADMAP.md— phased build planCLAUDE.md— conventions & gotchas for contributors / AI sessionsjunk/steps/— original research notes behind the architecture
Early development. The UI shell and auth flow are in place; the watch-party engine is next.