openclaw-mission-control/docs/03-development.md

Development

Deep dives

• Testing guide
• Troubleshooting deep dive

How we develop Mission Control locally, with a workflow that stays close to CI.

Prerequisites

• Docker + Docker Compose v2 (docker compose)
• Python 3.12+ + uv
• Node.js + npm
  • CI pins Node 20 via GitHub Actions (actions/setup-node@v4 with node-version: "20").

Repo structure (where to run commands)

• Repo root: Makefile contains canonical targets.
• Backend code: backend/ (FastAPI)
• Frontend code: frontend/ (Next.js)

“One command” setup

From repo root:

make setup

What it does:

• Syncs backend deps with uv.
• Syncs frontend deps with npm via the node wrapper.

Canonical checks (CI parity)

Run everything locally (closest to CI)

From repo root:

make check

CI runs two jobs:

• check (lint/typecheck/tests/coverage/build)
• e2e (Cypress)

Backend workflow

Install/sync deps

cd backend
uv sync --extra dev

Run the API (dev)

cd backend
cp .env.example .env
uv run uvicorn app.main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Backend checks

From repo root:

make backend-lint       # flake8
make backend-typecheck  # mypy --strict
make backend-test       # pytest
make backend-coverage   # pytest + scoped coverage gate

DB migrations

From repo root:

make backend-migrate

Frontend workflow

Install deps

cd frontend
npm install

(or from repo root: make frontend-sync)

Run the UI (dev)

cd frontend
cp .env.example .env.local
# Ensure NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL is correct for the browser:
# NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:8000
npm run dev

Frontend checks

From repo root:

make frontend-lint       # eslint
make frontend-typecheck  # tsc
make frontend-test       # vitest
make frontend-build      # next build

Local dev loops

Loop A (recommended): DB via Compose, backend + frontend in dev mode

1. Start Postgres only:

cp .env.example .env
docker compose -f compose.yml --env-file .env up -d db

2. Backend (local):

cd backend
cp .env.example .env
uv sync --extra dev
uv run uvicorn app.main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

3. Frontend (local):

cd frontend
cp .env.example .env.local
npm install
npm run dev

Loop B: all-in-one Docker Compose

cp .env.example .env

docker compose -f compose.yml --env-file .env up -d --build

Useful ops:

docker compose -f compose.yml --env-file .env logs -f --tail=200
docker compose -f compose.yml --env-file .env up -d --build backend
# destructive reset (drops Postgres volume):
docker compose -f compose.yml --env-file .env down -v

Cypress E2E workflow (high level)

See the deep dive: docs/testing/README.md.

Notes:

• E2E uses Clerk (official @clerk/testing integration); CI injects Clerk env vars.

Tooling notes

Node wrapper (scripts/with_node.sh)

Many Make targets run frontend commands via bash scripts/with_node.sh. It checks node/npm/npx and can use nvm if present.

Quick troubleshooting

• UI loads but API calls fail / activity feed blank:
  • confirm NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL is set and browser-reachable.
  • see Troubleshooting.