Plant Tracer Webapp

This repository implements the Plant Tracer Flask web application and the lambda-resize video-processing service.

Production app: https://prod.planttracer.com/

Code

• Flask backend: src/app/
• Browser JavaScript and static assets: src/app/static/
• Jinja templates: src/app/templates/
• DynamoDB/S3 maintenance CLI: src/dbutil.py
• Lambda video/frame/tracking service: lambda-resize/
• Python tests: tests/ and lambda-resize/tests/
• JavaScript tests: jstests/
• Documentation: docs/

Browser pages load jQuery globally. ES modules import $ from src/app/static/utils.js, which re-exports the global jQuery instance.

Storage

• S3 stores original movies, traced movies, ZIP files, and frame artifacts.
• DynamoDB stores users, courses, API keys, movie metadata, frame trackpoints, and audit logs.
• The S3 bucket is pre-existing and outlives the CloudFormation stack.
• Research-use and attribution metadata must also be written into the MP4 file so archived movies remain self-describing.

Local development uses MinIO for S3 and DynamoDB Local for DynamoDB.

Local Development

Install dependencies:

make install-macos   # macOS
# or
make install-ubuntu  # Ubuntu

Start local services and seed demo data:

make start-local-services
make make-local-demo

Run locally:

make run-local-lambda-debug
make run-local-debug

Flask runs at http://localhost:8080. The local Lambda bridge runs at http://127.0.0.1:9811.

Demo mode:

make run-local-demo-debug

Validation

Use Makefile targets:

make lint
make pytest
make jscoverage
make check

make pytest starts/uses local DynamoDB and MinIO through the project fixtures and Makefile environment. Do not run raw pytest for normal validation unless you also reproduce the Makefile environment.

Key Environment Variables

See docs/Development/EnvironmentVariables.rst.

Common local values are supplied by the Makefile:

• AWS_REGION=local
• AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_DYNAMODB=http://localhost:8000/
• AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3=http://localhost:9000/
• PLANTTRACER_S3_BUCKET=planttracer-local
• DYNAMODB_TABLE_PREFIX=demo-
• PLANTTRACER_LAMBDA_API_BASE=http://127.0.0.1:9811/

Documentation

Build docs after editing anything under docs/:

poetry run sphinx-build -W --keep-going -b html docs docs/_build/html

Developer entry points:

• docs/Development/DeveloperSetup.rst
• docs/Development/Local Development and Github Actions.rst
• docs/Development/FlaskAPI.md
• docs/Development/ClientLambdaAPI.md
• docs/Development/TechDebt.rst