Architecture

This is a balance transfer application with a Symfony 5 JSON API backend and a Vue.js 3 frontend.

• Backend: Symfony 5.3 / PHP 8.0 — serves API endpoints at /api/*
• Frontend: Vue 3 + Vite + Tailwind CSS — single-page application served as static files
• Database: MySQL 8.0
• Web server: Nginx serves the Vue app at / and proxies /api requests to PHP-FPM

All services run in Docker. Port 8000 is the only port exposed.

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Quick Start

You only need Docker Desktop installed.

1. Clone the git repository to your local machine.

2. Start the application:

   Windows:

   start.bat
   

   Linux / Mac:

   chmod +x start.sh
   ./start.sh

   This builds and starts in prod mode by default (OPcache enabled, Xdebug off, Symfony cache warmed).

3. Open the application at http://localhost:8000

Development Mode

To run with dev-friendly settings (OPcache off, Xdebug in develop mode, file changes reflect immediately):

Windows:

start.bat dev

Linux / Mac:

./start.sh dev

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Manual Setup (alternative)

If you prefer not to use the start scripts:

1. Build the Vue frontend:

   cd frontend
   npm install
   npm run build
   cd ..

2. Start the containers:

   docker compose up -d --build

3. Run database migrations and load fixtures:

   docker exec -it balance-transfer-symfony-1 /bin/bash

   then

   php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate --no-interaction
   php bin/console doctrine:fixtures:load --no-interaction

Note: If using VS Code with the Dev Containers extension, you can open this project with "Reopen in Container". The post-create.sh script will automatically install dependencies, build the frontend, run migrations, and load fixtures.

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Environment Modes

Setting	prod (default)	dev
OPcache	Enabled, no file revalidation	Disabled
Xdebug	Completely removed	Develop mode (nice error pages)
Symfony cache	Pre-warmed at startup	Built on first request
Performance	Fast (sub-second responses)	Slower (convenience over speed)

The mode is controlled by the APP_ENV environment variable, which the start scripts set for you.

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API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/customers	List all customers
GET	/api/customers/{id}	Get a single customer
GET	/api/transfers	List all transfers
POST	/api/transfers	Create a new transfer

POST /api/transfers expects JSON:

{
  "senderId": 1,
  "recipientId": 2,
  "amount": 50.00
}

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Database

You can access the application database using a MySQL client:

Parameter	Value
Hostname	127.0.0.1
Port	13306
User	symfony or root
Password	symfony
Database Name	app

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Frontend Development

The Vue.js frontend lives in frontend/. After making changes:

Option A — Rebuild inside the container:

docker exec -it balance-transfer-symfony-1 bash -c "cd frontend && npm run build"

Option B — Rebuild locally:

cd frontend
npm run build

Option C — Use Vite dev server for hot-reload (local Node.js required):

cd frontend
npm run dev

This starts a dev server at http://localhost:5173 with API requests proxied to http://localhost:8000.

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Testing

PHPUnit unit tests, functional tests and application tests are located in the tests/ directory.

To run the test suite, exec into the container first:

docker exec -it balance-transfer-symfony-1 /bin/bash

Then follow these steps:

1. Create the test database (if not already created):

   php bin/console --env=test doctrine:database:create

2. Run migrations in the test database:

   php bin/console --env=test doctrine:migrations:migrate

3. Load fixtures in the test database:

   php bin/console --env=test doctrine:fixtures:load

4. Run the tests:

   php ./vendor/bin/phpunit tests/