Local Development

Quick Start

Windows

# 1. Clone and enter project
cd EpsteinTool

# 2. Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
.\venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

# 3. Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 4. Run database migrations
python manage.py migrate

# 5. Start dev server
python manage.py runserver

Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser.

Linux

# 1. Install system dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y python3-pip python3-venv libgl1 libglib2.0-0 \
    build-essential libharfbuzz-bin libharfbuzz-dev

# 2. Install Microsoft fonts (required for accurate width measurement)
echo ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts/accepted-mscorefonts-eula \
    select true | sudo debconf-set-selections
sudo apt-get install -y fontconfig ttf-mscorefonts-installer
sudo fc-cache -fv

# 3. Setup venv + install
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# 4. Migrate and run
python3 manage.py migrate
python3 manage.py runserver

Or use the provided script:

chmod +x run_app.sh
./run_app.sh

This starts the server on port 5000 and auto-opens a browser.

Adding Fonts

Place .ttf font files in assets/fonts/. The width calculator scans this directory automatically and makes all fonts available in the frontend dropdown.

Common fonts to add:

  • times.ttf (Times New Roman)
  • arial.ttf
  • cour.ttf (Courier New)
  • calibri.ttf

Collecting Static Files

During development, Django's staticfiles app serves files directly from the static/ folders of each app (guesser_core, webgl_mask, text_tool). For production, run:

python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

This copies all static assets to the STATIC_ROOT (static/ at project root).

Running Tests

cd tests/
python -m pytest test_app.py

Note: test_app.py currently tests against the legacy Flask app.py. To test the Django views, use python manage.py test guesser_core.