Development Cheatsheet

Last updated: January 22, 2025

Quick Reference Guide

1. Clone and Setup

From the terminal in your development environment:

git clone <your repo>   
cd <your repo>

2. Create Feature Branch

git checkout -b <foo-feature>

3. Environment Setup

Before making changes:

Ensure all secrets are created in AWS Secret Manager
Add secret names to the .env file

Important Note

The required environment variables can be found in the Development Environment management section of the site detail page. The platform will automatically handle all secret creation - you only need to configure the developer secrets prior to building the development environment. You can simply copy and paste the Environment Template into the .env file in your app code.

4. Python Environment Setup

From the root directory of your repo, initialize the Python virtual environment:

source /home/ec2-user/py3.11-venv/bin/activate

Create and setup your .env file:

cp ./app/.env.example ./.env

Load environment variables into the venv:

set -a
source .env
set +a

5. Launch the Application

Open two terminal tabs in the root directory of your project:

Frontend (Terminal 1):

sudo npm update
sudo npm i
sudo npm run watch

Backend (Terminal 2):

pip install -r app/requirements.txt
flask db upgrade # need to run this or future migrations will fail
gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --timeout 120 run:app

Note

Make sure to run flask db upgrade before starting the application, or future migrations will fail.

6. Commit Changes

Recommended: Clear the pycache before checking in changes:

# ensure the venv is activated
source /home/ec2-user/py3.11-venv/bin/activate 
python clear_cache.py
git add *
git commit -m "commit message"
git push origin <foo-feature>

Deployment Process

Staging Deployment

Merge your foo-feature branch into Staging. This will automatically trigger a Staging deployment.

Production Deployment

To deploy to Production, merge either:

Your foo-feature branch, or
The Staging branch containing your changes

into your main branch. This will automatically trigger a Production deployment.

Important

Always test your changes in Staging before deploying to Production.

Need Help?

Join our Slack community to connect with other developers and get help in the #support channel.