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Getting Started

This guide will walk you through setting up the SmartGlasses development environment on your local machine.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the necessary tools installed on your system. You'll need Git as your version control system (Download), Visual Studio Code as your code editor (Download), and Docker Desktop as the container platform (Download). Additionally, install the VS Code Dev Containers Extension for development container support (View on Marketplace).

Installing VS Code Extensions

  1. Open Visual Studio Code
  2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
  3. Search for and install: Dev Containers by Microsoft

Step 1: Clone the Repository

Clone the SmartGlasses repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/vives-project-xp/SmartGlasses.git
cd SmartGlasses

Step 2: Open the Workspace

The project uses a VS Code workspace file to organize the multi-folder structure:

  1. Open Visual Studio Code
  2. Use one of these methods:
  3. File > Open Workspace from File > Select SmartGlasses.code-workspace
  4. Or from command line: code SmartGlasses.code-workspace
  5. Or in file explorer, right-click SmartGlasses.code-workspace and choose "Open with Code"

The workspace includes three main folders: the Root folder contains the main project documentation and configuration files, the Server folder houses the FastAPI backend service, and the Client folder contains the Expo React Native mobile application.

Step 3: Start the Development Container

The project uses Docker dev containers for a consistent development environment:

Automatic Setup:

  1. When you open the workspace, VS Code should automatically detect the .devcontainer configuration and prompt you to "Reopen in Container"

Manual Setup:

  1. If not prompted automatically:
  2. Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on Mac)
  3. Type "Dev Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container"
  4. Select this option

Note

The initial container build may take 5-10 minutes as it downloads the Python 3.12 base image, installs development tools including Node.js, Android SDK, FFmpeg, and Docker CLI, configures VS Code extensions, and sets up the complete development environment.

Step 4: Verify Installation

Once the container is running, verify everything is set up correctly:

Check Python Environment

python3 --version
pip3 --version

Check Node.js Environment

node --version
npm --version

Check Docker Access

docker --version

Step 5: Install Project Dependencies

Server Dependencies (FastAPI)

Next Steps

See Server setup & run for the server setup and how to run the FastAPI backend.

Client Dependencies (React Native/Expo)

Next Steps

See Client setup & run for the client setup and how to start the Expo development server.

Notebook Dependencies (Optional - for AI/ML development)

Next Steps

See Notebooks setup & run for details on installing notebook dependencies and running notebooks.

Step 6: Building

Next Steps

See Building the Application for instructions on how to build and run the Signapse application.