Installation Instructions

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm: https://nodejs.org/en/download
• Python 3.10+ (with pip): https://www.python.org/downloads/
• Ollama: https://ollama.com/download

1. Clone the project and navigate to repository

git clone https://github.com/COMP2281/software-engineering-group25-26-14.git
cd software-engineering-group25-26-14

2. Set up Ollama

Check if Ollama is running:

ollama list

If this shows a list of models (or even an empty list), Ollama is running.

If you get a connection error, start Ollama manually:

ollama serve

Then download the required model (this may take some time, but only needs to be done once):

ollama pull granite3.1-dense:8b

You can run ollama list again to confirm the model is installed.

Keep Ollama running. The backend will connect to it at http://localhost:11434.

3. Backend installation

Open a terminal in the project root and run:

Windows (PowerShell)

py -m venv venv
.\venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -r requirements.txt

If PowerShell blocks script execution, run this once in the same terminal first. This only changes the policy for the current session:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

macOS/Linux

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

This installs all required python modules in a virtual environment.

4. Frontend installation

Also from the project root, run:

cd web/app
npm install

This installs the required node modules.

5. Running the backend

Open a terminal in the project root. Ensure that the virtual environment is active:

Windows (PowerShell)

.\venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

macOS/Linux

source venv/bin/activate

Then, run:

cd web/api
python -m uvicorn main:app --port 8000

The backend will now be available at http://localhost:8000. The API docs are at http://localhost:8000/docs.

6. Running the frontend

Open a second terminal in the root folder and run:

cd web/app
npm run dev

The frontend will be available at http://localhost:5173.

7. Using the app

Keep both terminals running.

Open http://localhost:5173 in your browser to use the application.