Interview Setup

Welcome! This project verifies that your development environment is ready for the onsite interview. Follow the steps below to get everything running.

Prerequisites

You'll need Homebrew installed, plus:

• Git (you have it if you cloned this repo)
• Python 3.12+ — check with python3 --version
• Node 18+ — check with node --version

Install Tools

brew install temporal uv
npm install -g nodemon

• uv manages Python packages and virtual environments (no manual venv needed)
• temporal runs the Temporal server locally
• nodemon auto-restarts the worker when Python files change

Install Dependencies

make install

This installs Python and Node dependencies, and creates the SQLite database.

Run the App

You need 4 processes running in separate terminal tabs:

# Tab 1: Temporal server
temporal server start-dev

# Tab 2: Backend (Flask on http://localhost:8000)
make run-dev

# Tab 3: Temporal worker
make run-worker

# Tab 4: Frontend (Next.js on http://localhost:3000)
make run-frontend-dev

Verify

Visit http://localhost:3000 and click "Say Hello". You should see:

Hello, World!

If you see that, your setup is complete.

What is Temporal?

Temporal is a workflow engine that makes it easy to build reliable applications. Here's how the pieces fit together:

• A workflow orchestrates a sequence of steps. It's a durable function — if the process crashes, the workflow resumes right where it left off.
• An activity does the actual work (API calls, database writes, etc.). Activities are called by workflows.
• A worker is a process that listens for tasks and executes workflows and activities.
• The Temporal server coordinates everything — it tracks workflow state and dispatches tasks to workers.

When you click "Say Hello", the frontend calls the Flask backend, which starts a HelloWorkflow on the Temporal server. The worker picks it up, runs the greet activity, and returns the result.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
make install fails on Python	Make sure python3 --version shows 3.12+. Install via brew install python@3.12
make install fails on Node	Make sure node --version shows 18+. Install via brew install node@18
"Say Hello" shows an error	Make sure all 4 processes are running. Check each terminal for errors.
Worker can't connect	Make sure temporal server start-dev is running first.