Brian Kipchirchir
Brian Kipchirchir
Posted on 25 Aug
1
The Local Dev Setup Cheat Sheet I Wish I Had When I Started 🐍⚡
🗂️Project WITHOUT React/Vite (Python backend + plain HTML/CSS/JS frontend)
Backend:
source .venv/bin/activate
python app.py
Frontend (no build tool needed — just serve the static files):
python3 -m http.server 5500
or right-click index.html → "Open with Live Server" if you're in VS Code.
⚛️ Project WITH React/Vite (Python backend)
Backend:
source .venv/bin/activate
python app.py
Frontend:
npm run dev
🗑️ Deleting a virtual environment
deactivate
rm -rf .venv
✨ Creating a fresh one
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
🆕 First time in a project only do:
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
🔁 Every time after:
source .venv/bin/activate
python app.py
🔍 Check if venv exists:
ls -a → spot .venv in the list
✅ Check if venv is actually active:
which python → should point inside .venv
⚠️ don't fully trust the (.venv) label in your prompt — it can lie!
♻️ Only redo the first-time steps if:
🗑️ you delete .venv
💻 you're on a new machine
📦 requirements.txt got new packages