Simple Flask + Node.js web app setup for hackathons.

NvPmf/
├── app.py              # Flask backend (Python)
├── index.html          # Frontend (HTML/JS)
├── requirements.txt    # Python dependencies
├── package.json        # Node.js config (optional)
├── .env                # API keys (NOT in git)
├── .env.example        # Template for API keys
├── datasets/           # Put your datasets here
└── README.md           # This file

pip install -r requirements.txt

1. Create a .env file in the backend/ directory:

   cd backend
   # Create .env file

2. Edit .env and add your Gemini API key:

   GEMINI_API_KEY=your-gemini-api-key-here
   

   To get a Gemini API key:

   • Go to https://makersuite.google.com/app/apikey
   • Sign in with your Google account
   • Create a new API key
   • Copy the key and paste it in your .env file

Put your dataset files in the datasets/ folder:

datasets/
  ├── data.csv
  ├── data.json
  └── ...

Start Flask Backend:

python app.py

Open Frontend:

• Open index.html in your browser, OR
• Use a simple server: python -m http.server 8000 then go to http://localhost:8000

1. Flask (Backend): app.py handles API requests

   • Reads API keys from .env file
   • Serves data to frontend
   • Can read datasets from datasets/ folder

2. Frontend: index.html is your web interface

   • Makes requests to Flask API
   • Displays results

3. API Keys: Stored in .env (never commit this file!)

In app.py:

@app.route('/api/your-endpoint', methods=['GET'])
def your_function():
    # Use API_KEY here if needed
    return jsonify({"data": "your data"})

In app.py:

import pandas as pd  # Add to requirements.txt: pandas==2.0.0

@app.route('/api/load-dataset', methods=['GET'])
def load_dataset():
    df = pd.read_csv('datasets/your-data.csv')
    return jsonify(df.to_dict())

In app.py:

import requests  # Add to requirements.txt: requests==2.31.0

@app.route('/api/external', methods=['GET'])
def call_external():
    headers = {'Authorization': f'Bearer {API_KEY}'}
    response = requests.get('https://api.example.com/data', headers=headers)
    return jsonify(response.json())

• ✅ .env is in .gitignore - your keys won't be committed
• ✅ Never share your .env file
• ✅ Use .env.example as a template for teammates

• Flask: https://flask.palletsprojects.com/
• Python dotenv: Loads .env files automatically
• CORS: Allows frontend to call backend from different ports

Port 5000 already in use?

• Change PORT=5001 in .env

CORS errors?

• Make sure Flask-CORS is installed
• Check that CORS(app) is in app.py

Can't find API key?

• Make sure .env file exists
• Check that variable name matches: API_KEY=...