Local development

Run Orion without Docker for development and contribution.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• Node.js 18+ (frontend only)

Start the backend

cd backend
pip install -e ".[dev]"
uvicorn app.main:app --reload --port 8000

This starts with SQLite by default — no database setup needed.

Start the frontend

cd frontend
npm install && npm run dev

Run tests

cd backend && pytest

Architecture note

The MCP server and REST API run as a single FastAPI process on port 8000:

app.mount("/mcp", mcp.streamable_http_app())

One process means one connection pool, shared session state between REST and MCP, and a single port to monitor. There is no separate MCP server to run.