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Development Setup

Prerequisites

  • Docker: Required for all development workflows
  • Git: For version control
  • VS Code: Optional but recommended

Setup Options

  1. Open the project in VS Code
  2. Install the "Dev Containers" extension
  3. Press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P → "Dev Containers: Reopen in Container"

The devcontainer includes Python 3.11, Redis, and all dependencies pre-installed.

Option 2: Docker Compose

Run tests: 

docker compose -f tests/docker-compose.yaml up --build --abort-on-container-exit --exit-code-from test

Reformat code: 

docker compose -f reformat/docker-compose.yaml up --build --abort-on-container-exit

Validate docs: 

docker compose -f docs-validate/docker-compose.yaml up --build --abort-on-container-exit

Option 3: Virtual Environment

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -e .
pip install -e .[test]
pip install -e .[dev]
pip install -e .[docs]

Start a Redis or DragonflyDB backend:

docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:7

Verifying Your Setup

from synced_memory.redis import Memory      # Redis
from synced_memory.dragonflydb import Memory  # DragonflyDB

mem = Memory()
mem.test = "Hello, synced-memory!"
print(mem.test)  # Hello, synced-memory!

Run the test suite:

pytest tests/ -v

Project Structure

synced-memory/
├── .devcontainer/          # Dev container configuration
├── .github/workflows/ci.yaml
├── .vscode/tasks.json
├── docs/                   # Documentation source
├── docs-validate/          # Docs validation Docker setup
├── lint/                   # Linting Docker setup
├── reformat/               # Code formatting Docker setup
├── scripts/                # Utility scripts
├── src/
│   └── synced_memory/
│       ├── __init__.py       # Package re-exports
│       ├── common.py         # Shared business logic
│       ├── redis/
│       │   └── __init__.py   # Redis backend (thin wrapper)
│       └── dragonflydb/
│           └── __init__.py   # DragonflyDB backend (thin wrapper)
├── tests/
│   ├── test_redis.py         # Redis test suite
│   └── docker-compose.yaml   # Test environment (Redis + DragonflyDB)
├── mkdocs.yml
└── pyproject.toml

Common Issues

Redis Connection Error: - Ensure Redis is running: redis-cli ping should return PONG - Check REDIS_HOST environment variable

Import Error (ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'synced_memory'): 

pip install -e .

Port already in use (6379): 

lsof -i :6379 && kill -9 <PID>