Don't Mess With The Don

Don't Mess With The Don (DMWTD) is a non-profit organization based in the GTA that focuses on environmental and community initiatives. DMWTD connects volunteers, residents, and local partners and hosts events, educational programs, and fundraising initiatives related to sustainability.

A lot of people register for volunteering events online but don't show up. This is a recurring problem — the actual output of volunteer efforts isn't living up to its potential.

This project is built by UW Blueprint to address this with a centralized event management portal. The platform streamlines event discovery, attendee registration and vetting, attendance tracking, and data reporting for both staff and community members.

• Backend: Python (FastAPI + SQLModel)
• Frontend: React (TypeScript)
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Infrastructure: Docker

• Docker Desktop installed and running
• Node.js 18+ (install directly from nodejs.org or via nvm)

1. Clone this repository and cd into the project folder

2. Set up environment files:

   Ask PL To share .env (root) and frontend/.env and place them in the repo root and frontend/ respectively.

3. Start all services:

docker-compose up --build

The backend runs at http://localhost:8080 and the frontend at http://localhost:3000.

The backend uses FastAPI with SQLModel (SQLAlchemy + Pydantic). Database migrations are managed with Alembic and run automatically on container startup.

After modifying a model in backend/python/app/models/, generate a migration:

docker exec -it don-backend alembic revision --autogenerate -m "describe your change"

Alembic diffs your models against the current DB schema and writes the migration file to backend/python/migrations/versions/.

docker exec -it don-backend alembic upgrade head

Sample data lives as plain CSV files in backend/python/seeds/ — one file per table (event_types.csv, users.csv, events.csv, form_submissions.csv, registrations.csv, attendance.csv). To change what gets seeded, just edit the CSVs; the header row of each file matches the model's field names.

Run the seeder against the running dev database (via the make shortcuts, with the raw commands shown for reference):

# Seed only if the database is empty (safe to run anytime)
make seed          # docker exec -it don-backend python -m app.seed

# Wipe the seeded tables and reload them from the CSVs
make seed-reset    # docker exec -it don-backend python -m app.seed --reset

# Wipe and seed the test database instead of the dev database
make seed-test     # docker exec -it -e APP_ENV=testing don-backend python -m app.seed --reset

Run make help to see all available shortcuts (start/stop, migrations, linting, tests, DB shell, etc.).

To seed automatically when the backend container starts, set SEED_DB=true in the root .env. Startup seeding is off by default and idempotent — it skips if the database already has data, so it is safe to leave enabled across restarts.

CSV notes:

• Blank cells fall back to the model default (usually NULL) — leave optional columns empty.
• Rows are inserted in file order, so list parents before children in users.csv (the guardian_id self-reference).
• JSON/array columns (form_json, response_json, image_urls, notes) must contain valid JSON, e.g. {"waiver_required": true} or ["a", "b"]. Wrap those cells in double quotes and double any internal quotes (standard CSV quoting).

# List running containers
docker ps

# Open a shell in the backend container
docker exec -it don-backend /bin/bash

# Open a psql shell in the database container
docker exec -it don-db psql -U postgres -d postgres

# Lint Python code (check only)
docker exec don-backend ruff check .

# Auto-fix lint issues
docker exec don-backend ruff check --fix .

# Format Python code
docker exec don-backend ruff format .

# Check formatting without applying
docker exec don-backend ruff format --check .

# Type check
docker exec don-backend mypy .

# Run Python tests
docker exec -it don-backend pytest

• Branch off main for all feature work. Use the format your-name/short-description (e.g. pranav/readme-update)
• Rebase onto main to integrate upstream changes (do not merge)
• Commits should be atomic and written in imperative tense (e.g. "Add volunteer registration endpoint")