Midnight Oil Estimator Engine

A cost estimator engine that utilizes bin packing and regression to estimate costs based on user provided data in a quick and efficient manner.

---

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (v18+)
• Python (v3.9+)
• pip
• [uv] (https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/)

---

Project Structure

.
├── frontend/   # Next.js application
└── backend/    # FastAPI application

---

Getting Started

1. Backend (FastAPI)

Navigate to the backend folder and set up a virtual environment:

cd backend
uv venv

Activate the virtual environment:

# macOS / Linux
source .venv/bin/activate

# Windows
venv\Scripts\activate

Install dependencies:

uv sync

Start the FastAPI development server:

uvicorn main:app --reload --host X.X.X.X --port XXXX # last two are optional

The API will be available at API_BASE as inputted into the .env file. Interactive API docs are available at API_BASE/docs.

---

2. Frontend (Next.js)

Open a new terminal, navigate to the frontend folder, and install dependencies:

cd frontend
npm install

Start the Next.js development server:

npm run dev

The frontend will be available at http://localhost:3000.

---

Database Setup (SQL Server 2025)

Create the database and tables (SSMS or sqlcmd):

sqlcmd -S <server> -i sql\create_database.sql
sqlcmd -S localhost -C -i sql\create_database.sql

sqlcmd -S <server> -d MidnightOilEstimator -i sql\create_tables.sql
sqlcmd -S localhost -d MidnightOilEstimator -C -i sql\create_tables.sql

Both scripts are idempotent — re-running them is safe and will add anything missing.

Then load the existing data (users, projects, quotes, history, and the reference/cost tables) from the MongoDB exports in MONGO_database\. Pick one of the two variants:

sqlcmd -S <server> -d MidnightOilEstimator -i sql\migrate_mongo.sql
sqlcmd -S localhost -d MidnightOilEstimator -C -i sql\migrate_mongo.sql

reads the .json files off disk — edit @MongoDir near the top of the script first, and note the SQL Server service account needs read access to that folder. If it can't reach the folder (or you lack ADMINISTER BULK OPERATIONS), use the self-contained variant instead:

sqlcmd -S <server> -d MidnightOilEstimator -i sql\migrate_mongo_data.sql
sqlcmd -S localhost -d MidnightOilEstimator -C -i sql\migrate_mongo_data.sql

which embeds the same export as literals and needs no filesystem access. Both are idempotent and record what they loaded in dbo.migration_mongo_map — don't drop that table, or a re-run will duplicate every migrated record.

---

Environment Variables

In the backend folder create a .env file and add the following lines:

SQLSERVER_HOST=localhost
SQLSERVER_DATABASE=MidnightOilEstimator
# For SQL authentication (omit both to use Windows integrated auth):
SQLSERVER_USER=<username>
SQLSERVER_PASSWORD=<password>
# Optional overrides:
# SQLSERVER_DRIVER=ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server
# SQLSERVER_CONN_STR=<full ODBC connection string; overrides everything above>

In the frontend folder create a .env.local file and add the following lines:

API_URL=http://<host>:<port> # host and port as specified above. Defaults to `localhost` and `8000` respectively