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This guide walks you through everything needed to run Gobarau Academy Backend on your local machine and make your first authenticated API call. By the end you will have a running Django development server, a superuser account, and a working JWT access token you can use to explore all API endpoints. The whole process takes under ten minutes on a standard developer workstation.
1

Clone the Repository

Fetch the source code from GitHub and navigate into the project directory:
git clone https://github.com/muhammadbugaje/gobarau_backend.git
cd gobarau_backend
2

Create and Activate a Virtual Environment

The project requires Python 3.12. Create and activate a dedicated virtual environment to keep dependencies isolated.Linux / macOS:
python3.12 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
Windows (PowerShell):
python -m venv venv
.\venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
The repository may already include a venv/ directory. If it does, you can activate it directly with the commands above instead of creating a new one.
3

Install Dependencies

With the virtual environment active, install all required packages:
pip install -r requirements.txt
This installs Django, Django REST Framework, djangorestframework-simplejwt, Cloudinary storage, django-unfold, CORS headers, and all other project dependencies declared in requirements.txt.
4

Configure the Database

Apply all Django migrations to create the SQLite database schema. This sets up every table across all 10 apps:
python manage.py migrate
You should see output confirming that each migration has been applied. The database file db.sqlite3 will be created in the project root.
5

Create a Superuser

Create an admin account that you will use to log in to the Django admin panel and to obtain your first JWT token:
python manage.py createsuperuser
Follow the prompts to set a username, email address, and password. Once created, you can access the admin panel at http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/.
The admin panel is powered by django-unfold, giving it a modern, polished UI. Use it to seed initial data such as academic sessions, wing assignments, and user roles before making API calls. It also supports bulk import and export via django-import-export.
6

Start the Development Server

Launch the Django development server:
python manage.py runserver
The API will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8000/. You should see the Django REST Framework browsable API if you visit any API endpoint in your browser.
7

Obtain a JWT Token

Gobarau Academy Backend uses djangorestframework-simplejwt for authentication. To enable token endpoints, add the following URL patterns to your project’s gobarau/urls.py:
from rest_framework_simplejwt.views import (
    TokenObtainPairView,
    TokenRefreshView,
)

urlpatterns = [
    # ... existing patterns ...
    path("api/token/", TokenObtainPairView.as_view(), name="token_obtain_pair"),
    path("api/token/refresh/", TokenRefreshView.as_view(), name="token_refresh"),
]
Once added, obtain an access and refresh token pair by posting your credentials:
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/token/ \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"username": "your_superuser", "password": "your_password"}'
A successful response returns both tokens:
{
  "access": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
  "refresh": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9..."
}
Copy the access token — you will use it in the Authorization header for every subsequent request.
See the Authentication guide for full details on token lifetimes, refreshing expired tokens, user roles, and the permission classes that control endpoint access.
8

Make Your First Authenticated API Call

With your access token in hand, call a protected endpoint. The following example retrieves the list of academic sessions from the Administration module:
curl -X GET http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/administration/academic-sessions/ \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_access_token>" \
  -H "Accept: application/json"
Replace <your_access_token> with the access value from the previous step. A 200 OK response confirms your setup is working end-to-end.

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