Development

VAME App is a Python (Flask) backend that serves a React (Vite) frontend. For end-user install instructions see README.md; this guide covers running from source.

Setup (once)

The backend needs PyTorch, which is easiest to get through conda. Each environment-<os>.yml installs Python + PyTorch and then pip install -e . (editable, so Python edits are live after a restart).

conda env create -f environment-mac-arm.yml   # or: mac-x86 / linux / win
conda activate vame-app
npm install

Run (two terminals)

Run the Vite frontend and the Flask backend separately, both with hot reload.

Terminal 1 — Frontend (HMR — open this URL in your browser)

npm run dev            # http://localhost:5173

Terminal 2 — Backend (auto-restarts on .py changes)

VAME_PORT=8641 VAME_DATA_ROOT=~/test_data flask --app vame_app:create_app run --port 8641

The frontend (5173) talks to the backend (8641) over CORS. Override the backend URL with VITE_API_BASE if needed. In production the frontend is served by Flask itself, so requests are same-origin.

VAME_DATA_ROOT sets the root folder the in-app file browser may traverse (defaults to your home directory). With the production CLI you'd instead pass vame-app --data-root /path/to/your/data, which also remembers it in ~/vame-app/settings.json.

Useful scripts

• npm run dev — Vite dev server (hot reload)
• npm run build — build the frontend into src/services/vameApi/vame_app/web
• npm run typecheck — TypeScript checks
• npm run lint / npm run format

Building a distributable wheel

npm run build              # frontend -> vame_app/web
python -m build --wheel    # wheel bundles the built frontend