annotrAIn - Development Setup

Table of Contents

• About annotrAIn
• Features
• Tech Stack
• Installation - Local Development
• Development Environment
• Changelog
• Contributing
  • PHP code style - Laravel Pint
  • Running tests
    • Backend tests
      • Run all backend tests
      • Filter by test name or class
      • Combine flags
    • Frontend / Browser tests
  • Code Scanning
  • Git Hooks
• Available Scripts
  • Composer scripts
  • npm scripts
  • Database commands
  • DDEV convenience shortcuts
• Releasing a new version
• Security
• License
• Credits

About annotrAIn

annotrAIn is a Laravel-based annotation management system. The application manages annotators (users), their roles, and permissions via an Inertia/React SPA.

It includes a complete setup for both the backend and frontend, with support for both DDEV and Native (PHP, Composer, etc. running locally) development environments.

Features

1. Support for both DDEV and Native development environments
2. React 19 / Inertia.js 2 frontend with Vite for faster development
3. Tailwind CSS v4 with React Aria Components for accessible, keyboard-navigable UI
4. SCSS support with PostCSS
5. TypeScript (strict mode)
6. Automated code formatting (PHP, JS/TS, SCSS)
7. Git hooks for code quality
8. Comprehensive test suite using Pest (backend) and Jest (frontend)
9. Role-based access control using Spatie Laravel Permission
10. Dark mode support
11. Responsive design
12. GitHub Actions for CI/CD

Tech Stack

• Backend:

  • Laravel 12.x
  • PHP 8.4
  • MySQL/SQLite
  • Laravel Pint (Code Styling)
  • PHPStan / Larastan (Static Analysis at level 8)
  • Pest (Testing)

• Frontend:

  • React 19 with Inertia.js 2
  • TypeScript (strict mode)
  • Tailwind CSS v4
  • React Aria Components (accessibility-first UI primitives)
  • Lucide React (icons)
  • Sonner (toast notifications)
  • Vite
  • ESLint + Prettier + Stylelint

Installation - Local Development

In order to start developing with annotrAIn, you will need to read the guide in the LOCAL-DEVELOPMENT.md file.

Development Environment

The application supports two development environments, controlled by APP_DEVELOPMENT_ENV in your .env file:

APP_DEVELOPMENT_ENV	How to run commands
native	Run directly: composer …, npm …, php artisan …, vendor/bin/…
ddev	Prefix with ddev: ddev composer …, ddev npm …, ddev artisan …, ddev exec vendor/bin/…

All commands in this document are shown in native form. DDEV users: add the ddev prefix to every command — e.g. composer test becomes ddev composer test, npm run dev becomes ddev npm run dev, and php artisan migrate becomes ddev artisan migrate.

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Contributing

To contribute to the application, follow these steps:

1. Fork this repository.
2. Read the CONTRIBUTING file.
3. Create a branch: git checkout -b <branch_name>.
4. Make your changes and commit them: git commit -m '<commit_message>'
5. Push to the original branch: git push origin <project_name>/<location>
6. Create the pull request

After making changes, follow this workflow:

composer fix    # auto-fix everything (Rector + Pint + ESLint + Prettier)
composer check  # verify style/lint rules — no file mutations (CI-safe)
composer test   # run the Pest test suite

PHP code style - Laravel Pint

This application uses Laravel Pint for PHP code styling, managed via Composer scripts.

composer fix          # apply all auto-fixes (Rector + Pint + ESLint + Prettier)
composer fix:backend  # backend only — no Node required (Rector + Pint)
composer check        # dry-run checks — no modifications (CI-safe)

Running tests

Backend tests

Run the full test suite (lint + static analysis + Pest) via:

composer test:backend

# or composer test

To run or filter Pest tests directly:

composer test:backend                        # all tests
composer test:backend -- --filter TestName      # filter by name
composer test:backend -- --testsuite=Feature    # specific suite

Run all backend tests

ddev composer test:backend

Filter by test name or class

  ddev composer test:backend -- --filter UserControllerTest
  ddev composer test:backend -- --filter "it creates a user"

Combine flags

  ddev composer test:backend -- --filter UserControllerTest --coverage

To run with code coverage (requires Xdebug):

XDEBUG_MODE=coverage ddev composer test:coverage

Frontend / Browser tests

We use Laravel with Pest for end-to-end browser testing via Playwright. This replaces Jest component tests with real Chromium testing.

Prerequisites:

# 1. Kill any running dev servers (to avoid port conflicts)
pkill -f "vite" || pkill -f "composer run dev" || true

# 2. Build frontend assets (required)
npm run build

Run tests:

# Headless mode (CI-friendly)
composer test:browser

# Headed mode — watch the browser (debugging)
BROWSER_HEADLESS=false composer test:browser

The in-process server serves compiled assets from public/build/. Without them, Inertia pages fail to load and tests will fail.

Code Scanning

Static analysis runs as part of composer check:types:

composer check:types          # PHPStan (level 8) + TypeScript tsc --noEmit
composer check:types:backend  # PHPStan only (no Node required)

Git Hooks

A pre-commit hook runs automatically on every commit. It:

1. Scans staged files for secrets with Gitleaks (blocks commit if secrets detected)
2. Runs Rector on staged .php files (automated refactors)
3. Runs Pint on staged .php files (code style formatting)
4. Runs Prettier / ESLint on staged .js/.ts/.tsx files
5. Runs Prettier on staged .scss/.css files

Modified files are re-staged automatically, so the committed code always matches the formatted output.

Setup

The hook is installed automatically when you run:

composer install

For Gitleaks, you will need also to install the executable. See GITLEAKS-SECURITY.md for details.

If you need to reinstall it manually (e.g. after cloning without running composer install):

bash tools/git-hooks/install.sh

DDEV users: Git hooks run on the host machine, not inside the container.

Run ddev composer install to install dependencies inside the container, but the hook script itself executes on the host using vendor/bin/rector, vendor/bin/pint, and npm from the project root.

Make sure PHP and Node are available in your host shell, or run ddev composer install first to populate vendor/bin/.

Bypassing the hook: If you genuinely need to skip it (e.g. a work-in-progress commit), use git commit --no-verify. This should be rare.

Available Scripts

Composer scripts

Script	Description
composer dev	Start dev server (auto-detects environment)
composer fix	Apply all auto-fixes — Rector + Pint + ESLint + Prettier (mutates files)
composer fix:backend	Backend fixes only — Rector + Pint (no Node required)
composer fix:frontend	Frontend fixes only — ESLint + Stylelint + Prettier
composer check	Verify style/lint rules — no file mutations (CI-safe)
composer check:backend	Backend checks only — Pint + Rector dry-run (no Node required)
composer check:frontend	Frontend checks only — ESLint + Stylelint + Prettier
composer check:types	Type analysis — PHPStan level 8 + TypeScript tsc
composer check:types:backend	PHPStan only (no Node required)
composer test	Run the Pest test suite (excludes browser tests)
composer test:all	Full CI suite: check + check:types + test:backend + test:browser
composer test:coverage	Pest with code coverage (requires Xdebug)
composer update:requirements	Bump Composer + npm dependencies to latest

npm scripts

Script	Description
npm run dev	Start Vite development server
npm run build	Build frontend assets for production
npm run fix	Apply all frontend auto-fixes (ESLint + Stylelint + Prettier)
npm run fix:js	ESLint auto-fix
npm run fix:styles	Stylelint auto-fix
npm run fix:format	Prettier write
npm run check	Verify all frontend rules — no file mutations (CI-safe)
npm run check:js	ESLint check
npm run check:styles	Stylelint check
npm run check:format	Prettier dry-run
npm run types	TypeScript type-check (tsc --noEmit)

Database commands

php artisan migrate                       # migrate the database
php artisan db:seed                       # seed the database
php artisan migrate:fresh                 # drop all tables and re-run migrations
php artisan migrate:fresh --seed          # fresh migrate + seed
php artisan key:generate                  # generate application key

DDEV convenience shortcuts

When using DDEV, the following project-specific shorthand commands are available in addition to the standard ddev prefix rules:

ddev pint     # shorthand for ddev exec vendor/bin/pint
ddev analyse  # shorthand for ddev exec vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
ddev format   # shorthand for pint + npm format
ddev test     # shorthand for ddev exec vendor/bin/pest

Releasing a new version

Version must be updated in two places before tagging:

• package.json — "version": "x.x.x"
• config/app.php — 'version' => env('APP_VERSION', 'x.x.x')

After committing your changes, create a new git tag:

git tag -a vx.y.z -m "This is a nice tag name"

(for the x.y.z version number, follow the Semantic Versioning guidelines).

Then, push the tag:

git push origin vx.y.z

Then, in the GitHub Releases page, create a new Release and correlate it with the tag that you just created.

Also, don't forget to update the CHANGELOG.md file with the new version name, release date, and release notes.

Security

This project implements several security measures:

• Secret Scanning: Gitleaks integration prevents accidental exposure of sensitive information like API keys, passwords, and tokens. See GITLEAKS-SECURITY.md for detailed configuration and usage.
• Security Headers: Custom middleware adds security headers (CSP, HSTS, etc.)
• CSRF Protection: Laravel's built-in CSRF protection
• Role-based Access Control: Using Spatie Laravel Permission package

If you discover any security-related issues, please email info[at]scify.org, instead of using the issue tracker.

License

This project is open-sourced software licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Credits

• SciFY This project is developed and maintained by SciFY and is based on the Laravel framework.