Aperture MVP

A full-stack social feed prototype where users control the recommendation algorithm.

Stack

• React + Vite frontend
• Python FastAPI backend
• SQLite database

Local setup

Backend

cd server
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate # Windows Git Bash: source .venv/Scripts/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Frontend

cd client
npm install
cp .env.example .env
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173.

Deploy

Backend on Render

Create a new Web Service from this repo.

• Root Directory: server
• Build Command: pip install -r requirements.txt
• Start Command: uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port $PORT
• Environment variable: CORS_ORIGINS=https://your-vercel-domain.vercel.app

For MVP SQLite works, but Render free instances may reset disk state. For durable production data, swap SQLite for Postgres.

Frontend on Vercel

• Root Directory: client
• Build Command: npm run build
• Output Directory: dist
• Environment variable: VITE_API_URL=https://your-render-service.onrender.com

MVP behavior

Move the algorithm sliders and the frontend calls /api/feed/rank. The backend reorders posts based on metadata scores and returns explanations for why each post appears.