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Local Dev setup

You can either folllow the setup with Docker or without Docker, the instructions are listed below.

With Docker

To run locally Docker these are the steps.

Requirements

Have these installed first before continuing further.

  • Docker
  • Docker compose
  • GNU Make
  • GitHub CLI (optional, but recommended) https://cli.github.com/

Starting the local env

  1. Fork the repo. See the GitHub docs for instructions on how to Fork a repo.

  2. Clone your fork:

gh repo clone <personal-account>/pyladiescon-portal

git clone <personal-account>/pyladiescon-portal.git
  1. Start the local environment:
make serve

  1. Open the browser and go to http://localhost:8000/ to see the app running.

  2. Set the site domain (see Configure the site domain):

make manage set_site_domain localhost:8000
  1. Run the tests:
make test

Without Docker

To run locally without Docker these are the steps.

Requirements

Have these installed first before continuing further.

Starting the local env

  1. Fork the repo. See the GitHub docs for instructions on how to Fork a repo.

  2. Clone your fork:

gh repo clone <personal-account>/pyladiescon-portal

git clone <personal-account>/pyladiescon-portal.git

Install dependencies

Create a python environment and activate it:

python3 -m venv .env
source .env/bin/activate

python3 -m venv .env
.env\Scripts\activate

Install dependencies for development:

pip install -r requirements-dev.txt

If you want to run the docs you'll also need some docs dependencies:

pip install -r requirements-docs.txt

Postgres Setup

To run the application you'll need to have PostgreSQL running on your machine. Follow one of the guides below to install it:

Installation in MacOS 1. Install PostgreSQL 
brew install postgresql
2. Run PostgreSQL 
brew services start postgresql
Installation in Windows Download the installer from here and follow the screen prompts

Now export the environment variable below:

export SQL_USER=<your-user>

set SQL_USER=<your-user>

For example, Jess' username is "jesstemporal", so her command looks like this:

export SQL_USER=jesstemporal

set SQL_USER=jesstemporal

Applying Migrations

Now is time to create the database to store all the information:

python manage.py migrate

Configure the site domain

Links inside emails (account verification, speaker invitations, checklist reminders) are built from the domain stored in Django's sites framework, not from the request. A fresh database has the placeholder example.com, so every emailed link points at the wrong host until you change it. Set it once after the first migrate:

make manage set_site_domain localhost:8000

python manage.py set_site_domain localhost:8000

The same value is editable in the admin under Sites. With DEBUG on, speaker-portal links use http://; everywhere else they use https://.

Run the server

Add the other enviroment variables:

export SECRET_KEY=deadbeefcafe
export DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS="localhost,127.0.0.1"

set SECRET_KEY=deadbeefcafe
set DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS="localhost,127.0.0.1"

Then run the server:

python manage.py runserver

Generate Sample Data (Optional)

For local development and testing, you can generate sample data to populate your database with realistic test content. This command creates:

  • 9 Users: 1 admin, 1 staff member, 5 volunteers, and 2 sponsor contacts
  • 8 PyLadies Chapters: Chapters from different regions globally (San Francisco, NYC, London, Berlin, Tokyo, São Paulo, Lagos, Sydney)
  • 7 Volunteer Roles: Frontend Dev, Backend Dev, Content Writer, Social Media Manager, Designer, Reviewer, Event Coordinator
  • 6 Teams: Website, Social Media, Content, Design, Program Committee, Sponsorship
  • 5 Volunteer Profiles: With various application statuses (approved, pending, waitlisted, rejected)
  • 5 Sponsorship Tiers: Ranging from $2,500 to $25,000
  • 5 Sponsorship Profiles: With different progress statuses
  • 5 Individual Donations: Random amounts between $5 and $300

Important: This command only works when DEBUG=True in your settings to prevent accidental use in production environments.

make manage generate_sample_data

python manage.py generate_sample_data

All generated users have the password: password123.

The command is idempotent, meaning you can run it multiple times without creating duplicate data.

Speaker portal sample data

A second command fills the active edition with speaker-portal data so every screen of the speaker module has something to show. It creates:

  • Edition setup: switches the speaker module on, sets the conference dates when they are empty, seeds the default checklist templates, publishes the speaker, workshop and keynote guides and leaves a performer guide as a draft
  • 4 Portal users: 1 staff organizer (organizer_lena, the liaison for two presenters), 2 approved volunteers on teams (vol_maya on Design Team, vol_kim on Media Team), 1 pending volunteer (vol_pending)
  • 7 Sessions: a workshop and a keynote (scheduled on the first conference day), a panel and a pre-recorded PyJam performance (confirmed), a talk (draft), plus the opening (scheduled) and a coffee break
  • 6 Presenters, one per invitation state:
    • ada@example.com: accepted and onboarded workshop presenter, with checklist items that are done, skipped, overdue and due soon
    • grace@example.com: onboarded keynote presenter, second presenter on the workshop and panel moderator, so she gets both the keynote and the workshop guides
    • dex@example.com: invited panelist who has not accepted yet
    • maria@example.com: onboarded PyJam performer whose uploaded video is over the length limit, which blocks the video-length item
    • sam@example.com: talk presenter who has not been invited yet
    • nina@example.com: accepted host of the opening who has not been through the welcome page yet, so signing in as her shows that flow
  • Action items with deadlines: one owned by Design Team, one assigned to a volunteer and overdue, one completed by a volunteer so the presenter can see who did it, and ad hoc items added by the organizer
  • Proposals, with the edition taking them, one in each state:
    • vol_rosa: an approved volunteer who has also proposed a talk, still waiting for an answer, which is what "the same account does both" looks like
    • prop_tess: nothing but a portal account, her workshop approved, so she is on the program with a checklist
    • prop_iris: one turned down (organizers can still approve it later) and one she took back, which she can edit and send again

Important: like generate_sample_data, this only works when DEBUG=True. It is idempotent: rerunning it updates the data in place. Run it after configuring the site domain so the invitation and notification emails it sends link to localhost:8000.

make manage generate_speaker_sample_data

python manage.py generate_speaker_sample_data

Pass --conference <year or slug> to target an edition other than the active one.

Signing in as each persona:

  • Organizer and volunteer accounts use the password password123. Sign in as vol_maya and open My volunteering tasks under My volunteering to see the items assigned to her and to Design Team.
  • Presenter accounts were created through the invitation flow and have no password yet. Use Send me a sign-in code on the login page with the presenter's email address; the code arrives in maildev at http://localhost:1080 (Docker) or in the server terminal. Once signed in, the speaker dashboard offers to set a password.
  • The organizer side of the speaker portal lives under Organize → Speakers; the speaker side is the Speaking entry in the top menu.
  • Proposer accounts (prop_tess, prop_iris, vol_rosa) use password123 as well. Their proposals are under My proposals; the organizers' queue is Organize → Speakers → Proposals, and each proposed session can also be answered from the session page itself.

Documentation Setup

The documentation is built using MKDocs and markdown.

Local docs setup

  1. Create and activate a virtual environment:
python3 -m venv venv
source .env/bin/activate

python3 -m venv venv
.env\Scripts\activate
  1. Install docs requirements:
pip install -r requirements-docs.txt
  1. Run the docs server:
mkdocs serve -a localhost:8888
  1. Open the browser and go to http://localhost:8888/ to see the docs running.

Docs Troubleshooting

Cairo library was not found

If you see the error Cairo library was not found, try the following instructions:

  1. MKDocs material image processing Docs.

  2. Check if the Cairo libraries are listed in /opt/homebrew/lib folder. If not, follow the instructions on this page.