Slash Backend

This is the backend repository for Slash, a Django-based web application providing REST APIs for product management, cart, orders, payments, reviews, and authentication.

Prerequisites

Before setting up the project, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

• Python (3.10+ recommended)
• Redis (Required for Celery background tasks and caching)
• Elasticsearch (Required for search functionalities)
• PostgreSQL (Optional; the app defaults to SQLite if Postgres is not configured)

Local Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository_url>
   cd slash

2. Set up a Virtual Environment It is highly recommended to use a virtual environment to manage dependencies:

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate

3. Configure Environment Variables Copy the example environment file to .env and fill in the necessary credentials (like Database, Redis URLs, Elasticsearch, Google OAuth, and Flutterwave keys):

   cp .env.example .env

4. Install Dependencies & Apply Migrations The project includes a Makefile to simplify setup. The following command installs all dependencies from requirements.txt and runs the database migrations:

   make setup

5. Create an Admin Superuser To access the Django admin panel (/admin/), you will need a superuser account:

   make superuser

6. Seed Initial Data (Optional) Run the following command to create initial product categories in your database:

   make seed_categories

Running the Application

Ensure that your local Redis and Elasticsearch services are running before starting the application.

You can run the Django development server, Celery worker, and Celery beat concurrently using the Makefile:

make dev

Running Services Separately

If you prefer to run the services in separate terminal windows:

• Django Server: make run (or python manage.py runserver)
• Celery Worker: make worker (or celery -A core worker -l info)
• Celery Beat: make beat (or celery -A core beat -l info)

To stop all background services started via make dev:

make stop

Useful Makefile Commands

• make help - View all available commands
• make test - Run the automated test suite
• make shell - Open the interactive Django shell
• make clean - Remove .pyc and __pycache__ files

Key Technologies & Integrations

• Framework: Django & Django REST Framework
• API Documentation: Generated via drf-spectacular
• Authentication: JWT authentication (rest_framework_simplejwt) and Social Login (django-allauth / Google OAuth)
• Payments: Flutterwave integration
• Background Jobs: Celery & Redis (handles tasks like scheduled payment processing and training recommendation models)
• Admin Theme: Unfold