RECursion NITD Website Backend

Project Title

RECursion NITD Website Backend

Functionalities

• User registration, login, and profile management
• Forum with questions, answers, and discussions
• Event creation, listing, updating, and details
• Interview experience sharing and browsing
• Blog content management
• Team member pages and team-related data
• Calendar-related event APIs
• Google social authentication
• Email notification support using SMTP
• REST API endpoints for frontend integration

Tech Stack

• Python 3.11
• Django 3.2
• Django REST Framework
• Django Filters
• Django MarkdownX
• Django Prometheus
• social-auth-app-django
• dj-database-url
• python-decouple / python-dotenv

Project Structure

• requirements.txt — project dependencies
• website/ — Django application root
  • manage.py — Django management script
  • website/ — project settings and URL configuration
    • settings.py — application settings
    • urls.py — root URL routing
    • wsgi.py — WSGI entrypoint
  • blog/ — blog application
  • events/ — event management application
  • events_calendar/ — calendar API application
  • forum/ — forum application
  • getting_started/ — onboarding and guides app
  • team/ — team management app
  • user_profile/ — user profile and account app
  • interview_exp/ — interview experience app
  • utils/ — shared utilities

Local Setup

1. Prerequisites

• Python 3.11
• pip
• Git
• Optional: Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools if package compilation fails

Install Python 3.11

• Download Python 3.11 from the official website:
  https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3110/
• Windows (via winget): winget install -e --id Python.Python.3.11
• macOS (via Homebrew): brew install python@3.11
• Linux (Ubuntu/Debian): sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3.11 python3.11-venv

Verify Python version:

python --version

Expected output:

Python 3.11.x

2. Fork and Clone the Repository

• Go to: https://github.com/RECursion-NITD/RECursionNITD-website

• Click Fork to create your own copy

• Clone your fork:

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/RECursionNITD-website.git
cd RECursionNITD-website

Add upstream remote:

git remote add upstream https://github.com/RECursion-NITD/RECursionNITD-website.git
git remote -v

Checkout development branch:

git checkout dev-api

3. Create a virtual environment

python -m venv venv

4. Activate the virtual environment

.\venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

If you are using Command Prompt:

venv\Scripts\activate.bat

5. Install dependencies

python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

6. Add the database file

Place the downloaded database file here:

website/db.sqlite3

7. Extract media files

Extract the downloaded media.zip into the website/ folder.

8. Create website/.env

Create the env file and add the required configuration values. Do not commit secrets.

9. Apply database migrations

cd website
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

10. Collect static files

python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

11. Run the development server

python manage.py runserver

Open the site at:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/

Contribution

• Create a separate branch for each change: git checkout -b feature/your-change
• Keep pull requests focused and small
• Add a clear title and description for each PR
• Include testing or setup steps in the PR description
• Request review from the team or maintainer

Notes

• Environment variables should be stored in website/.env and kept private.
• If DATABASE_URL is not provided, the project defaults to SQLite at website/db.sqlite3.
• If using SQLite locally, database host/user/password settings are not required.
• The frontend repository is separate: https://github.com/RECursion-NITD/RECursionNITD-Frontend