Executive Orders Archive

An interactive web application for browsing and analyzing U.S. Presidential Executive Orders.

Project Overview

The Executive Orders Archive provides a comprehensive platform for accessing, analyzing, and understanding U.S. Presidential Executive Orders. The application features an interactive timeline visualization and detailed information about each executive order.

Key Features

• Interactive timeline visualization of Executive Orders
• Detailed information about each Executive Order
• Search and filter capabilities
• Integration with Federal Register data
• Regular updates for new Executive Orders

Project Status

Sprint 1 Completed

• ✅ Environment setup
• ✅ Backend setup
• ✅ Database setup
• ✅ Federal Register API integration
• ✅ Backend API endpoints
• ✅ Data fetching functionality
• ✅ Backend tests

Sprint 2 In Progress

• ✅ Frontend project setup
• ✅ API client infrastructure
• ✅ TanStack Query integration
• 🔄 User interface components
• 🔄 Interactive visualizations
• 🔄 Authentication system
• 🔄 Advanced search capabilities

Project Structure

executive-orders-archive/
├── backend/           # Flask backend application
│   ├── app/          # Application code
│   │   ├── models/   # Database models
│   │   ├── routes/   # API routes
│   │   ├── services/ # Business logic
│   │   └── utils/    # Utility functions
│   ├── tests/        # Test suite
│   └── README.md     # Backend documentation
├── frontend/         # React frontend application
│   ├── src/          # Source code
│   │   ├── components/ # React components
│   │   ├── pages/      # Page components
│   │   ├── services/   # API services and queries
│   │   ├── types/      # TypeScript definitions
│   │   └── utils/      # Utility functions
│   ├── public/       # Static assets
│   └── README.md     # Frontend documentation
├── docs/            # Project documentation
├── .gitignore       # Git ignore rules
├── LICENSE          # MIT license
└── README.md        # This file

Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• PostgreSQL 17+
• Redis (for task queue)
• Node.js 18+ (for frontend)

Backend Setup

1. Navigate to the backend directory:

   cd backend

2. Create and activate a virtual environment:

   python -m venv .venv
   .\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Configure environment variables:

   • Copy .env.example to .env
   • Update the values in .env with your configuration

5. Initialize the database:

   flask db init
   flask db migrate -m "Initial migration"
   flask db upgrade

6. Run the development server:

   flask run

7. Optional: Run data fetch script to populate the database:

   python scripts/fetch_data.py --days-back 365

Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to the frontend directory:

   cd frontend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Configure environment variables:

   • Copy .env.example to .env.local
   • Update the values if needed (defaults should work with local backend)

4. Run the development server:

   npm run dev

API Endpoints

The backend provides the following API endpoints:

• GET /api/v1/executive-orders: Get a list of executive orders with filtering, sorting, and pagination
• GET /api/v1/executive-orders/{eo_id}: Get a single executive order by ID
• GET /api/v1/latest-executive-orders: Get the latest executive orders
• GET /api/v1/executive-orders/stats: Get statistics about executive orders
• GET /api/v1/executive-orders/{eo_id}/related: Get orders related to a specific executive order

Development

Branching Strategy

We follow a modified Git Flow branching strategy:

• main: Production-ready code
• develop: Integration branch for features
• feature/*: Feature branches
• bugfix/*: Bug fix branches
• release/*: Release preparation branches

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed contribution guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.