Local development

Run Orion without Docker for development and contribution.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• Node.js 18+ (frontend only)

Start the backend

cd backend
pip install -e ".[dev]"
uvicorn app.main:app --reload --port 8000

This starts with SQLite by default — no database setup needed.

Start the MCP server

The MCP server is a separate process that calls the REST API. Start it after the API is running:

cd mcp
pip install -e .
MCP_PORT=8787 ORION_API_URL=http://localhost:8000 python -m orion_mcp.server

The MCP server has no database connection of its own — it is stateless and proxies all requests to the REST API. If you only need the REST API (no AI tool integration), you can skip this step.

Start the frontend

cd frontend
npm install && npm run dev

Run tests

cd backend && pytest

Architecture note

Orion runs as three independent processes:

Process	Port	Start command
orion-api	8000	uvicorn app.main:app
orion-mcp	8787	python -m orion_mcp.server
orion-frontend	3000	npm run dev

The MCP server calls the REST API over HTTP — it holds no state and requires no database. This separation means you can restart or redeploy the MCP server without affecting stored knowledge or active API sessions.