AL TCMS + Taiga — Unified Full-Stack Application

A unified project management and test case management system built with Django REST Framework and React (Vite). Both applications share a single PostgreSQL database.

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📁 Repository Structure

root/
├── TCM_Backend/        → AL TCMS Django backend (API on port 8001)
├── TCM_Frontend/       → AL TCMS React frontend (Vite on port 5173)
├── Taiga_backend/      → Taiga Django backend (API on port 8000)
└── Taiga_frontend/     → Taiga React frontend (Vite on port 5174)

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🗄️ Shared Database Architecture

Both backends connect to the same PostgreSQL database.

Table	Owner (runs migrations)	Mirror (managed=False)
projects	Taiga backend	AL TCMS backend
issues	AL TCMS backend	Taiga backend

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⚙️ Prerequisites

Make sure you have these installed before starting:

Tool	Version	Download
Python	3.10+	https://www.python.org/downloads/
Node.js	18+	https://nodejs.org/
PostgreSQL	14, 15 or 16	https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/
Git	Latest	https://git-scm.com/

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🐘 Step 1 — PostgreSQL Setup (Windows)

1.1 Install PostgreSQL

1. Download from https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/
2. Run the installer — keep all defaults
3. Set a password for the postgres user — remember this password
4. Keep port as 5432

1.2 Add psql to PATH

1. Press Windows key → search Environment Variables
2. Click Edit the system environment variables
3. Click Environment Variables button
4. Under System variables → find Path → click Edit
5. Click New and paste:

   C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\15\bin
   

   Replace 15 with your installed version number

6. Click OK on all windows
7. Close and reopen CMD

1.3 Create the shared database

Open CMD as Administrator and run:

psql -U postgres -h localhost

Type your postgres password. Then run these SQL commands one by one:

CREATE USER shared_user WITH PASSWORD 'yourpassword123';
CREATE DATABASE shared_tcms_db OWNER shared_user;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE shared_tcms_db TO shared_user;
\q

1.4 Verify the connection

psql -U shared_user -d shared_tcms_db -h localhost

Type password yourpassword123. You should see:

shared_tcms_db=>

Type \q to exit.

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📥 Step 2 — Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_REPO_NAME.git
cd YOUR_REPO_NAME

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🔧 Step 3 — Taiga Backend Setup

3.1 Create virtual environment and install dependencies

cd Taiga_backend
python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

If there is no requirements.txt, install manually:

pip install django djangorestframework psycopg2-binary django-cors-headers python-dotenv djangorestframework-simplejwt

3.2 Create the .env file

Create a file called .env inside Taiga_backend/ and paste:

SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-taiga-change-this-to-random-string
DEBUG=True
ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1

DB_NAME=shared_tcms_db
DB_USER=shared_user
DB_PASSWORD=yourpassword123
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=5432

CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5174

3.3 Run migrations (Taiga goes FIRST — it owns the projects table)

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

3.4 Create a superuser

python manage.py createsuperuser

3.5 Start the server

python manage.py runserver 8000

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🔧 Step 4 — AL TCMS Backend Setup

Open a new CMD window:

4.1 Create virtual environment and install dependencies

cd TCM_Backend
python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

If there is no requirements.txt, install manually:

pip install django djangorestframework psycopg2-binary django-cors-headers python-dotenv djangorestframework-simplejwt

4.2 Create the .env file

Create a file called .env inside TCM_Backend/ and paste:

SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-altcms-change-this-to-random-string
DEBUG=True
ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1

DB_NAME=shared_tcms_db
DB_USER=shared_user
DB_PASSWORD=yourpassword123
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=5432

CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173

INTERNAL_SYNC_TOKEN=supersecrettoken123

4.3 Run migrations (AL TCMS goes SECOND — it owns the issues table)

python manage.py migrate projects --fake-initial
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

4.4 Create a superuser

python manage.py createsuperuser

4.5 Start the server

python manage.py runserver 8001

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🌐 Step 5 — Taiga Frontend Setup

Open a new CMD window:

cd Taiga_frontend
npm install
npm run dev

App runs at: http://localhost:5174

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🌐 Step 6 — AL TCMS Frontend Setup

Open a new CMD window:

cd TCM_Frontend
npm install
npm run dev

App runs at: http://localhost:5173

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🚀 Running All Four Services

You need 4 separate CMD windows open at the same time:

Window	Command	URL
1 — Taiga Backend	cd Taiga_backend && venv\Scripts\activate && python manage.py runserver 8000	http://127.0.0.1:8000
2 — TCM Backend	cd TCM_Backend && venv\Scripts\activate && python manage.py runserver 8001	http://127.0.0.1:8001
3 — Taiga Frontend	cd Taiga_frontend && npm run dev	http://localhost:5174
4 — TCM Frontend	cd TCM_Frontend && npm run dev	http://localhost:5173

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🗂️ Database Tables Overview

After setup, your PostgreSQL database will contain these key tables:

Table	Owner
projects	Taiga backend
issues	AL TCMS backend
suites	AL TCMS backend
testcases	AL TCMS backend
testcase_steps	AL TCMS backend
testplans	AL TCMS backend
users_user	Taiga backend
tasks_task	Taiga backend
userstories_userstory	Taiga backend
sprints_sprint	Taiga backend

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🔐 Environment Variables Reference

Taiga Backend (Taiga_backend/.env)

Variable	Description	Example
SECRET_KEY	Django secret key	Any long random string
DEBUG	Debug mode	True for development
DB_NAME	Database name	shared_tcms_db
DB_USER	Database user	shared_user
DB_PASSWORD	Database password	yourpassword123
DB_HOST	Database host	localhost
DB_PORT	Database port	5432
CORS_ORIGIN	Allowed frontend origin	http://localhost:5174

AL TCMS Backend (TCM_Backend/.env)

Variable	Description	Example
SECRET_KEY	Django secret key	Any long random string
DEBUG	Debug mode	True for development
DB_NAME	Database name	shared_tcms_db
DB_USER	Database user	shared_user
DB_PASSWORD	Database password	yourpassword123
DB_HOST	Database host	localhost
DB_PORT	Database port	5432
CORS_ORIGIN	Allowed frontend origin	http://localhost:5173
INTERNAL_SYNC_TOKEN	Internal API token	Any secret string

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🛠️ Common Errors and Fixes

psql is not recognized

Add PostgreSQL bin folder to PATH (see Step 1.2).

InconsistentMigrationHistory

psql -U shared_user -d shared_tcms_db -h localhost

DELETE FROM django_migrations WHERE app = 'issues';
DELETE FROM django_migrations WHERE app = 'accounts';
\q

Then re-run migrations in order (Taiga first, TCM second).

relation "suites" does not exist

cd TCM_Backend
venv\Scripts\activate
python manage.py migrate

401 Unauthorized on API calls

Make sure you are logged in on the frontend. The JWT token must exist in localStorage under the key access.

Cannot resolve keyword 'taiga_project_id'

This field was removed in the shared DB migration. Make sure your TCM_Backend/issues/views.py uses Project.objects.get(id=taiga_project_id) not Project.objects.get(taiga_project_id=taiga_project_id).

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📌 .gitignore Recommendations

Make sure your .gitignore includes:

# Python
venv/
__pycache__/
*.pyc
*.pyo
.env

# Node
node_modules/
dist/
.env.local

# Database
*.sqlite3

# OS
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

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📄 License

MIT License — feel free to use and modify.