Developer Resources

Development Environment

This page covers cloning the repo, starting and stopping services, and your daily development workflow.

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Clone and Install

# Clone the repository
git clone <repo-url>
cd DST-Dev

# Install frontend dependencies
cd frontend
npm install
cd ..

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Set Your Developer Name

Each developer needs a unique name for database snapshot isolation. Run this once per machine:

echo yourname > db\.dev-name

Replace yourname with your actual first name (e.g., sarah). This file is gitignored — it stays local to your machine. If you skip this, the scripts will prompt you on first run.

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Starting the Environment

From the repo root:

./start-dev.bat

This single command does everything in order:

1. 1Starts the PostgreSQL Docker container
2. 2Waits for the database to be healthy
3. 3Restores your database snapshot (or seeds demo data on first run)
4. 4Starts the System-Response API (new Windows Terminal tab)
5. 5Starts the .NET backend with hot reload (new Windows Terminal tab)
6. 6Starts the React frontend (new Windows Terminal tab)
7. 7Opens Chrome to http://localhost:5174

All three services open as named tabs in a single Windows Terminal window.

Service URLs

Service	URL	Purpose
Frontend	http://localhost:5174	React dev server (Vite)
Backend API	http://localhost:5250	ASP.NET Core API
System-Response	http://localhost:5001	Calculation engine
PostgreSQL	localhost:5432	Database (user: dst_user, pass: dst_password, db: dst_db)

Verify Everything Works

1. 1The browser should open to the DST application
2. 2You should see the sidebar navigation on the left
3. 3Click through Hazards in the sidebar — data entry pages for hazard parameters
4. 4Click Response > Evaluation — you'll see the fully-implemented PFM-01 module (your reference)

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Stopping the Environment

When you're done working:

./end-dev.bat

This snapshots your database, stops all services, and cleans up Docker. Always use this command — if you kill Docker manually, your database changes will be lost.

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Daily Workflow

./start-dev.bat       ← start of day (restores your DB)
  ... work ...
./end-dev.bat         ← end of day (snapshots your DB)

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Script Reference

Start Scripts

Script	Description
start-dev.bat	Start everything (DB, System-Response, Backend, Frontend, Browser)
scripts/start-db.bat	Start PostgreSQL container only
scripts/start-backend.bat	Start .NET API only (new window)
scripts/start-frontend.bat	Start React dev server only (new window)

End Scripts

Script	Description
end-dev.bat	Stop everything (snapshots DB first)
scripts/end-db.bat	Stop PostgreSQL container only
scripts/end-backend.bat	Stop .NET API only
scripts/end-frontend.bat	Stop React dev server only

Restarting Individual Services

If one service crashes or you need to restart just one part:

Frontend

./scripts/end-frontend.bat && ./scripts/start-frontend.bat

Backend

./scripts/end-backend.bat && ./scripts/start-backend.bat

Database

./scripts/end-db.bat && ./scripts/start-db.bat

This will snapshot, tear down, and restore the database.

Configuration

Before running start-dev.bat for the first time, verify the SYSTEM_RESPONSE_PATH variable at the top of the script points to your local System-Response repository. See Prerequisites and IDE Setup for details.