Before You Begin#

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Developer Guide → Before You Begin

This page covers the prerequisites and tools for developing FairDM portals. If you landed here from a search, you may want to start with the Developer Guide overview to understand the developer role.

Before diving in, it’s helpful to be comfortable with the following tools and concepts:

Assumed knowledge#

FairDM is built on top of Python and the Django web framework, so a basic understanding of these technologies is extremely helpful. While you don’t need to be an expert, familiarity with the following concepts will make your experience smoother:

- Python programming (especially object-oriented programming)
- Package management (preferrably using the `Poetry` package)
- Git version control (basic commands like `clone`, `commit`, `push`, `pull`)
- Docker (what is it and what problems does it solve?)

Note

We highly suggest that you complete the Django tutorial if you are new to Django. It will provide a solid foundation for working within the FairDM framework.

See also

Ready to get hands-on? Once you have the prerequisites installed, head to the Getting Started guide for a complete walkthrough of running the demo portal and creating your first custom models.

Tools & Technologies#

To get started, make sure the following tools are installed on your system.

🐍 Python 3.10 or newer#

You’ll also need to install the following globally:

  • Poetry – for dependency management and virtual environments

  • Cookiecutter – for scaffolding a new project from the template

Install with pip:

    pip install poetry cookiecutter

🔧 Git#

If Git isn’t already installed, search online for “install Git” followed by your operating system (e.g., “install Git on macOS” or “install Git on Windows”).

💡 Tip: Configure your Git user info with git config --global user.name "Your Name" and git config --global user.email "you@example.com".