# TimeZero Production Engine - Local Deployment Guide

This directory contains the full backend architecture for TimeZero, ready to run locally or deploy to a free tier cloud provider (Render, Railway, Fly.io).

## Files Included:
1. `timezero_production_engine.py` - The core FastAPI application (contains the routing, crawls, vector math, and Neo4j injection).
2. `requirements.txt` - All necessary Python dependencies.
3. `Dockerfile` - For containerized deployment.

## Option A: Run Locally (Fastest for testing)

1. **Clone/Download these files** into a new directory on your machine.
2. **Create a virtual environment:**
   ```bash
   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows use `venv\Scripts\activate`
   ```
3. **Install dependencies:**
   ```bash
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   ```
4. **Set your environment variables** (You only strictly need Gemini and Neo4j for the core to function):
   ```bash
   export GEMINI_API_KEY="your_google_ai_studio_key"
   export NEO4J_URI="neo4j+s://your-instance.databases.neo4j.io"
   export NEO4J_USER="neo4j"
   export NEO4J_PASS="your_password"
   
   # Optional: For Dark Social & Vector Cache
   export PINECONE_API_KEY="your_pinecone_key"
   export TELEGRAM_API_ID="your_api_id"
   export TELEGRAM_API_HASH="your_api_hash"
   ```
5. **Run the server:**
   ```bash
   uvicorn timezero_production_engine:app --reload
   ```
6. **Test the API:** The backend will be live at `http://127.0.0.1:8000`. You can access the automatic interactive API documentation at `http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs`.

## Option B: Deploy to Render (Free Tier)

1. Push these three files (`timezero_production_engine.py`, `requirements.txt`, `Dockerfile`) to a new GitHub repository.
2. Go to [Render.com](https://render.com) and click "New Web Service".
3. Connect your GitHub repository.
4. Render will automatically detect the Dockerfile (or you can select Python environment and set the build command to `pip install -r requirements.txt` and start command to `uvicorn timezero_production_engine:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port $PORT`).
5. Add your Environment Variables in the Render dashboard.
6. Deploy. You will get a live URL (e.g., `https://timezero-backend.onrender.com`).

Once you have that URL (either `http://127.0.0.1:8000` or a live Render URL), we can immediately plug it into the frontend POC to execute real traces.