121 platform
121 is an open source platform for Cash based Aid built for the Humanitarian sector by the Netherlands Red Cross. -- Learn more about the platform: https://www.121.global/
Status
See: status.121.global
Tests Status
Static analysis, formatting, code-style, functionality, integration, etc:
See also: Testing
Documentation
The documentation of the 121 platform can be found on the Wiki of this repository on GitHub: https://github.com/global-121/121-platform/wiki
Getting Started
Set up a local development-environment
Note: These instructions target macOS and Linux. Windows is not officially supported, but may work with minor adjustments.
Set up repository and code
With these tools in place you can checkout the code and start setting up:
git clone https://github.com/global-121/121-platform.git
Navigate to the root folder of this repository:
cd 121-platform
Then install the required version of Node.js and npm:
Now, make sure to run the following in the root folder to install the necessary pre-hooks:
npm install
Optionally, an additional post-checkout-hook can be enabled by running:
cp .husky/.local.post-checkout.example .husky/.local.post-checkout
This will ensure all local (development-)dependencies will be installed every time you switch branches.
You can remove the .local.*-script file again to disable this behavior.
Setup Services
Copy the centralized .env-file
cp -i services/.env.example services/.env
Each environment-variable is explained in the .env.example-file. See the comments above each variable.
The initially set values are the defaults that should enable you to do local development and run all (automated) tests.
- Some variables should have a unique/specific value for your (local) environment.
- Some are (sensitive) credentials or tokens to access third-party services. (Reach out to the development-team if you need them.)
- Some are feature-switches that enable/disable specific features of the platform.
Start Services
To start all services, after setup, from the root of this repository, run:
npm run start:services
This will run Docker Compose in "attached" mode. The logs for all containers will be output to stdout.
To stop all services press ⌃ Control + C.
To see the status/logs of all/a specific Docker-container(s), run: (Where <container-name> is optional; See container-names in docker-compose.yml).
npm run logs:services <container-name>
To verify the successful installation and setup of services, access their Swagger UI:
Setup Interfaces
Install dependencies for the portal, run:
npm run install:portal
Also, make sure to set the environment-variables. Run:
cp -i interfaces/portal/.env.example interfaces/portal/.env
Start Interfaces
To start the portal, from the root of this repository, run:
npm run start:portal
Or explore the specific options as defined in the package.json or README.md.
When started, the portal will be available via: http://localhost:8888
Local development
When you use VS Code, you can start multiple editor-windows at once, from the root of this repository, run:
npm run code:all
To start an individual interface/service in VS Code:
Using environment-variables
See for guidelines on how we work with environment-variables, at the top of: .env.example.
Third party API tokens, credentials, infrastructure-specific values, etc
All (sensitive) tokens, access keys for third party APIs, infrastructure-specific hostnames and similar values should be injected in the application(s) via environment-variables.
⚠️ Make sure never to commit any such sensitive values! Always use the (ignored) local .env-file.
Process for implementing data-model changes
When making changes to the data-model of the 121-service (creating/editing any \*.entity.ts files), you need to create a migration script to take these changes into affect.
The process is:
-
Make the changes in the \*.entity.ts file
-
To generate a migration-script run: docker exec 121-service npm run migration:generate src/migration/<descriptive-name-for-migration-script>. This will compare the data-model according to your code with the data-model according to your database, and generate any CREATE, ALTER, etc SQL-statements that are needed to make the database align with code again.
-
Restart the 121-service through docker restart 121-service: this will always run any new migration-scripts (and thus update the data-model in the database), so in this case the just generated migration-script.
-
If more changes required, then follow the above process as often as needed.
-
Do NOT import any files from our code base into your migrations. For example, do NOT import seed JSON files to get data to insert into the database, since the migration may break if ever these seed JSON files change. Instead, "hard code" the needed data in your migration file.
-
Do NOT change migration files anymore after they have been merged to main, like commenting out parts of it, since there is a high probability this will result in bugs or faulty data on production instances. Instead, create a new migration file. The exception is bug fixing a migration file, for example if a file was imported that causes the migration to fail (see 5 above).
-
To run this file locally, do: docker exec -it 121-service npm run migration:run
-
If you want to revert one migration you can run: docker exec -it 121-service npm run migration:revert
-
If ever running into issues with migrations locally, the reset process is:
- Delete all tables in the
121-service database schema
- Restart
121-service container
- This will now run all migration-scripts, which starts with the
InitialMigration-script, which creates all tables
- (Run seed)
-
When creating new sequences for tables with existing data be sure to also update it using setval (example) to the current max id.
-
See also TypeORM migration documentation for more info
NOTE: if you're making many data-model changes at once, or are doing a lot of trial and error, there is an alternative option:
- In
services/121-service/src/ormconfig.ts set synchronize to true and restart 121-service.
- This will make sure that any changes you make to
\*.entity.ts files are automatically updated in your database tables, which allows for quicker development/testing.
- When you're done with all your changes, you will need to revert all changes temporarily to be able to create a migration script. There are multiple ways to do this, for example by stashing all your changes, or working with a new branch, etc. Either way:
- stashing all your changes (git stash)
- restart 121-service and wait until the data-model changes are actually reverted again
- set
synchronize back to false and restart 121-service
- load your stashed changes again (git stash pop)
- generate migration-script (see above)
- restart 121-service (like above, to run the new migration-script)
To test the migrations you are creating you can use this .sh script (unix only) ./services/121-service/src/migration/test-migration.sh example usage ./services/121-service/src/migration/test-migration.sh main feat.new-awesome-entity
This script performs the following steps:
- Checks out the old branch and stops the specified Docker containers.
- Starts the Docker containers to apply the migration and load some data.
- Waits for the service to be up and running, then resets the database with mock data.
- Checks out the new branch, applies any stashed changes, and restarts the Docker containers to run the migrations again.
Authentication
All services use JSON Web Token (JWT) to handle authentication. The token should be passed with each request by the browser via an access_token cookie. The JWT authentication middleware handles the validation and authentication of the token.
Recommended code-editor/IDE tools/extensions
To make development of all components of the 121-Platform easier, we recommend using VSCode with some specific extensions.
They are listed in .vscode/extensions.json-files, in each component's sub-folder, next to the root of the repository.
-
Main/root-folder
Generic extensions for code-style, linting, formatting, etc. Also GitHub Actions-workflow and Azure related ones.
-
Portal
Additional extensions for working with Angular, Tailwind, etc.
-
121-Service / Mock-Service
Additional extensions for working with Node.js, Jest Unit-tests, etc.
When you open a folder in VSCode and go to: "Extensions" and use the filter: "Recommended"(@recommended);
A list should be shown and each extension can be installed individually.
Adding/Updating recommended extensions
In VSCode, you can add a new recommended extension by selecting "Add to Workspace Recommendations" from the context-menu in the Extensions sidebar.
Make sure to add an extension to all (other) relevant extensions.json-files, so that it is available in all components of the 121-platform. Angular/CSS-specific extensions don't need to be shared, but TypeScript/Formatting/Developer-convenience-related ones do.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers
Workspace MCP servers are configured in .vscode/mcp.json for tools such as GitHub Copilot:
- Azure DevOps (
ado): Connects to the Red Cross Azure DevOps-organization. Authenticates using your local Azure credentials (e.g. az login)—no tokens or credentials are stored in the configuration.
- Figma (
figma): Connects to the Figma remote MCP server. Authenticates via OAuth in your browser upon first use.
Note on permissions: Both Azure DevOps and the Figma design project are internal Red Cross resources and are not publicly accessible. You will only be able to use these MCP servers if your account has been granted the appropriate permissions within the Netherlands Red Cross organization.
Common problems with Local Environment set-up
Swagger-UI not accessible
If the Swagger-UI is not accessible after installing Docker and setting up the services, you can take the following steps to debug:
docker compose ps to list running containers and their statusdocker compose logs -f <container-name> to check their logs/console output (or leave out the <container-name> to get ALL output)
Database related errors
If the errors are related to not being able to access/connect to the database then reset/recreate the database by:
- Setting
dropSchema: true in src/ormconfig.ts of the specific service.
- Restarting that service will reset/recreate its database(-schema)
Upgrade Node.js version
When considering upgrading the (LTS) version of the Node.js runtime, take into account:
Updated/new Node.js dependencies
When new Node.js dependencies are added to a service since it is last build on you local machine, you can:
-
Verify if everything is installed properly:
docker compose exec <container-name> npm ls
-
If that produces errors or reports missing dependencies, try to build the service from a clean slate with:
npm run install:services -- --no-cache <container-name>
Or similarly:
npm run start:services -- --force-recreate <container-name>
Testing
- Scenarios of e2e and integration/API-tests for the whole platform are described in
Azure Test Plan.
- Each component has its own individual tests:
- Unit-tests and UI-tests for all interfaces; Run with
npm test in each interfaces/*-folder.
- Unit-tests and API/integration-tests for all services; Run with
npm test in each services/*-folder.
See the README: 121-service / Testing for details.
How to use E2E tests and maintain documentation/Test Suites
When to use an API-test? (back-end + db? only)
- Is it to test query-magic?
- Is it to test essential endpoints (FSP integrations) and import/exports/etc?
- Often used (with different parameters) endpoints:
PATCH /registration etc.
- Is there actual business-logic performed?
- Not necessary:
- update single (program) properties?
- Examples:
- import Registrations -> change status (with list of
referenceIds) -> export included registrations
- update Registration-attributes: all different content-types + possible values (including edge cases)
Notes
These tests are still expensive (to bootstrap app + database)
Unit Tests
Why?
There are a few reasons why we write unit tests cases:
- Unit tests are written to ensure the integrity the functional level aspect of the code written. It helps us identify mistakes, unnecessary code and also when there is room for improvement to make the code more intuitive and efficient.
- We also write unit test cases to clearly state what the method is supposed to do, so it is smoother for new joiners to be onboarded
- It helps us achieve recommended devOps protocols for maintaining code base while working within teams.
Maintenance with future changes
How are Unit Tests affected when we make changes within the code in future?
- We should aim to write and update unit tests along side the current development, so that our tests are up to date and also reflect the changes done. Helps us stay in track
- Unit tests in this case differ from manual or automated UI testing. While UI may not exhibit any changes on the surface it is possible code itself might be declaring new variables or making new method calls upon modifications, all of those need to be tested and the new test-scenario or spec-file should be committed together with the feature change.
Our testing framework(s)
We are using jasmine for executing unit tests within interfaces and jest within services. However, while writing the unit test cases, the writing style and testing paradigm do not differ since jest is based on jasmine.
Writing tests
See the Guide: Writing tests
Test Coverage
Test coverage is collected and reported to the QLTY dashboard. This information is then used to determine whether a PR is decreasing test coverage or not.
Refer to the README file of the 121-service or the portal interface for more detailed information on how each coverage report is generated.
Releases
See notable changes and the currently released version on the Releases page.
This project uses the CalVer-format: YY.MM-MICRO.
Release Checklist
This is how we create and publish a new release of the 121-platform.
(See the glossary for definitions of some terms.)
- Define what code needs to be released.
(Is the current state of the main-branch what we want? Or a specific commit/point-in-the-past?)
- Check the changes since the last release, by replacing
vX.X-X with the latest release in this URL: https://github.com/global-121/121-platform/compare/vX.X-X...main
Check any changes to make sure we highlight new user-features, or any required changes to the deployment-process or newly required environment-variables, etc.
So we can include these in the release-notes.
- Define the
version-name for the upcoming release.
- "Draft a release" on GitHub
- For "Choose a tag": Insert the
version to create a new tag
- For "Target": Choose the commit which you would like to release (defined in the first step).
- Set the title of the release to
<version>.
- Use the "Generate release notes" button and double-check the contents.
Rephrase where necessary or highlight specific changes/features.
- Publish the release on GitHub (as "latest", not "pre-release")
Hotfix-release Checklist
Only in rare, very specific circumstances it might be required to do a "hotfix-release". For example when:
- A new (incomplete) feature, that is not yet communicated to end-users, is already in
main
- A (complex) migration-script, that would require an out-of-office-hours deployment, is already in
main
- Another issue that would pose (too big) a risk to deploy to any of the currently running instances.
Consider however, that it is also possible to postpone the deployment of a regular release, for a specific instance.
This follows a similar process to regular release + deployment, with some small changes.
- Checkout the
<version> tag which contains the code that you want to hotfix.
- Create a new local hotfix-branch using that tag as the
HEAD (e.g. hotfix/<vX.X-X>, with an increased final MICRO-number) and make the changes.
- Push this branch to the upstream/origin repository on GitHub.
Verify the test-runs(s) on the hotfix-branch by looking at the status of the last commit on the branches-overview.
- Create a new release + tag (see above) selecting the
hotfix/v*-branch as target, and publish it.
- Use the "Deploy new code" checklist to deploy the newly created tag (not the branch). For only the required instance.
- After the hotfix has been released+deployed to production, follow standard procedures to get the hotfix-code into the
main-branch.
Note: 💡 Do not rebase/update the hotfix/v*-branch onto the main-branch until AFTER you have successfully deployed the hotfix to production.
The hotfix branch is created from a "dangling" commit, this makes the GitHub UI confused when you look at a PR between the newly created hotfix-branch and the main-branch. Any conflict warnings shown on GitHub are not relevant for the hotfix-deployment, they'll only need to be addressed to merge the hotfix into the main-branch afterwards.
Deployment
The 121-Platform should be deployed to:
- a static web-hosting service (for the Portal only)
- a Node.js-capable environment (for 121-Service and Mock-Service)
- using a (possibly externally hosted) PostgreSQL-database
- using a (possible externally hosted) Redis-queue
- using some (externally hosted) Azure-services (Blob Storage, E-mail sending, etc)
This infrastructure is defined to be run using Docker (in use for local development only). But no guarantees are made that the platform can be deployed as-is to any Docker-capable hosting service.
🏗️ 510-only:
See details on how to deploy new code in the infrastructure-repository.
Glossary
| Term | Definition (we use) |
|---|
version | A name specified in the CalVer-format: YY.MM-MICRO |
tag | A specific commit or point-in-time on the git-timeline; named after a version, i.e. v22.1.0 |
release | A fixed 'state of the code-base', published on GitHub |
deployment | An action performed to get (released) code running on an environment |
environment | A machine that can run code (with specified settings); i.e. a service, or your local machine |
AI Disclaimer
Parts of the code in this repository were written and reviewed with the assistance of AI tools, including large language models (LLMs).
All AI-generated code has been reviewed by human contributors before being merged. The humans involved take responsibility for the correctness and quality of the code.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact the maintainers.
License
Released under the Apache 2.0 License. See LICENSE.
