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Dify Backend API

Setup and Run

uv, Docker Compose, and the Node.js and pnpm versions pinned in the root package.json are required. Run the commands below from the repository root, with each long-running service in its own terminal.

Using scripts (recommended)

  1. Run setup for a new checkout (copies env files and installs dependencies). This overwrites api/.env, web/.env.local, and docker/middleware.env; preserve existing configuration before rerunning it.

    ./dev/setup

  2. Review api/.env, web/.env.local, and docker/middleware.env values (see the SECRET_KEY note below).

  3. Start middleware (PostgreSQL/Redis/Weaviate).

    ./dev/start-docker-compose

  4. Start backend (runs migrations first).

    ./dev/start-api

  5. Start Dify web service.

    ./dev/start-web

    ./dev/setup and ./dev/start-web install JavaScript dependencies through the repository root workspace, so you do not need a separate cd web && pnpm install step.

  6. Set up your application by visiting http://localhost:3000.

  7. Start the worker service (executes queued async tasks).

    ./dev/start-worker

  8. Start Celery Beat when scheduled tasks are needed. This is required when KNOWLEDGE_FS_LIFECYCLE_WORKER_ENABLED=true so provisioning and deletion outbox commands are dispatched to the lifecycle worker.

    ./dev/start-beat

Environment notes

Important

When the frontend and backend run on different subdomains, set COOKIE_DOMAIN to the site’s top-level domain (e.g., example.com). The frontend and backend must be under the same top-level domain in order to share authentication cookies.

Leave SECRET_KEY empty to let Dify generate a persistent key in the storage directory. To manage it explicitly, generate a value with openssl rand -base64 42 and set SECRET_KEY in api/.env.

Timezones and local-time conversion

The backend uses zoneinfo with the system IANA timezone database, falling back to the explicitly required tzdata package. LOG_TZ is validated when configuration loads. Valid names and aliases are accepted, and differently cased names such as utc and asia/shanghai are resolved to their canonical spelling when needed. Unknown nonempty values are rejected; they never silently fall back to UTC. Explicit None and empty-string values retain their existing unset behavior.

When parsing a local time without an explicit UTC offset, parse_time_range and the Time conversion tools apply these rules:

  • A repeated time resolves to its later occurrence.
  • A nonexistent time shifts forward by the actual size of the timezone transition, preserving its position within the gap. The returned local time is normalized to a real wall-clock time.

The pytz migration intentionally changes the repeated-hour choice in Europe/Dublin: 2024-10-27 01:30 now resolves to 01:30Z (01:30+00:00), whereas the previous is_dst=False policy selected 00:30Z (01:30+01:00). Both instants exist; the new policy consistently chooses by chronological order rather than by the timezone database's DST label. New York's existing later-occurrence behavior is preserved.

Testing

Test real production behavior with real objects. Do not use mocks, SimpleNamespace, or other shortcuts that bypass real testing.

Backend unit-test directories must exactly mirror the production code's relative directory structure, and filenames must match the production filenames with a test_ prefix. For example, api/libs/schedule_utils.py maps to api/tests/unit_tests/libs/test_schedule_utils.py.

Apply the same rule to provider-local suites: <provider>/src/<package>/module.py maps to <provider>/tests/unit_tests/src/<package>/test_module.py.

Run from the repository root:

uv sync --project api --group dev
make test
make test TARGET_TESTS=./api/tests/unit_tests/<path>
make lint
make type-check

make test includes provider unit tests and runs controller tests separately. Integration suites are CI-only and are not expected to run locally. Test environment defaults live in api/pyproject.toml under tool.pytest_env; see the backend agent guide for package conventions.

API contracts

The API schema guide owns schema changes and verification. Generate the OpenAPI specifications and TypeScript/Zod contracts through the workspace script:

pnpm -C packages/contracts gen-api-contract

Refresh the checked-in Markdown reference with:

uv run --project api python api/dev/generate_swagger_markdown_docs.py \
  --swagger-dir packages/contracts/openapi --markdown-dir api/openapi/markdown --keep-swagger-json

Update the backend schema owner and regenerate contracts instead of converting types manually or editing generated files.