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Installation

Toodle is developed across three separate repositories for the frontend application, backend API, and project documentation. This guide explains the tools required to work on the project and how to prepare your local development environment.

Repository Purpose
Toodle React and Vite frontend application
toodle-api Express.js REST API and database integration
toodle-docs MkDocs project documentation

Prerequisites

Before setting up Toodle locally, make sure the following tools are installed:

  • Git — for cloning repositories and working with the team’s Gitea workflow.
  • Node.js — required for both the React frontend and Express backend.
  • npm — used to install and manage JavaScript dependencies.
  • Python 3 — required to run the MkDocs documentation site locally.
  • pip — used to install MkDocs and its documentation dependencies.
  • A code editor — Visual Studio Code is recommended, although any suitable editor may be used.

Depending on the area of the project you are working on, you may also need access to the team’s configured services for authentication, database hosting, deployment, and external API integration.

Clone the Repositories

Clone each Toodle repository from the group’s Gitea organisation:

git clone https://sdp.ms.wits.ac.za/infinite-loopers/Toodle.git 
git clone https://sdp.ms.wits.ac.za/infinite-loopers/toodle-api.git 
git clone https://sdp.ms.wits.ac.za/infinite-loopers/toodle-docs.git

This will create separate local folders for the frontend application, backend API, and documentation site.

After cloning, open the repository you intend to work on in your preferred code editor.

Install Dependencies

Each repository manages its own dependencies. Install them from the root of the repository you are working on.

Frontend

cd Toodle
npm install

Backend API

cd toodle-api
npm install

Documentation

cd toodle-docs
pip install -r requirements.txt

The documentation repository uses requirements.txt to install MkDocs and the Material for MkDocs theme.

If you are contributing code, also review the team’s development and Git workflow before creating a branch or opening a pull request.