Quick Start Guide

This guide covers how to set up the TaskMind project on your local machine for development and testing.

TaskMind utilizes a monorepo setup containing both the Next.js frontend and Django backend. You can run the application seamlessly via Docker Compose (recommended) or manually from source.

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Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed on your system:

• Node.js (>= 20.x)
• pnpm (>= 10.x)
• Python (>= 3.10)
• Docker & Docker Compose (Optional, but highly recommended)
• Groq API Key (Required for AI Goal Generation features)

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Method 1: Using Docker (Recommended)

Running TaskMind via Docker provides an isolated, consistent environment without needing to install Python dependencies or Node modules manually.

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/KietTruongTuan/TaskMind.git
   cd TaskMind
   

2. Configure Environment Variables: Create a .env file in the BE/ directory based on .env.example:

   API_KEY=your_groq_api_key_here
   DEBUG=True
   SECRET_KEY=your_django_secret_key
   

3. Build and Start Containers: Run the following from the root directory:

   docker compose up --build -d
   

   The development server will now be running. Code edits on your local machine will live-update inside the container.

4. Access the Application:

   • Frontend: http://localhost:3000
   • Backend API Docs (Swagger): http://localhost:8000/api/docs

5. Stop the Containers:

   docker compose down
   

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Method 2: Running from Source (Manual)

If you prefer to run the Backend and Frontend natively on your machine:

1. Backend Setup (Django)

1. Open a terminal and navigate to the project root.
2. Initialize and activate a Python virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   # On Windows:
   .\venv\Scripts\activate
   # On macOS/Linux:
   source venv/bin/activate
   

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r BE/requirements.txt
   

4. Set up environment variables inside BE/.env as shown in the Docker method.
5. Apply database migrations:

   cd BE
   python manage.py migrate
   

2. Frontend Setup (Next.js)

1. Open a new terminal instance in the project root.
2. Install Node packages using pnpm:

   pnpm install
   

3. Start the Servers

You can start both servers concurrently using pnpm from the root directory:

# Runs both FE and BE concurrently
pnpm dev

# Alternatively, run them separately:
pnpm dev:fe
pnpm dev:be