# Installation Guide (`INSTALL.md`)

Detailed installation, environment configuration, container build, and operator setup instructions for `trymemcp`.

## Prerequisites

- **Python**: `3.11` or newer
- **Docker**: `24.0+` and Docker Compose v2 (for containerized execution)
- **Helm**: `v3.14+` (optional, for Kubernetes deployments)

## 1. Virtual Environment Installation

```bash
# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

# Upgrade pip and install package + dev dependencies
venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pip
venv/bin/pip install -e ".[dev]"
```

## 2. Environment Variables

Create an optional `.env` file or export variables directly in your shell:

```bash
export MCP_HOST="0.0.0.0"
export MCP_PORT="8000"
export MCP_PATH="/mcp"
export TRYME_BASE_URL="https://tryme.tpk.pw"
export TRYME_TIMEOUT_SECONDS="30"

# Optional server-wide default credentials
export TRYME_API_KEY=""
export TRYME_BEARER_TOKEN=""
export TRYME_SESSION_COOKIE=""
```

> **Database Note**: `trymemcp` is a stateless MCP HTTP proxy/adapter over the upstream TryMe REST API (`https://tryme.tpk.pw`) and does not require a local database or Alembic migrations.

## 3. Running the Service

```bash
# Direct Python execution (serves HTTP on 0.0.0.0:8000)
venv/bin/python -m app.main

# Run test suite
venv/bin/pytest
```

## 4. Docker & Docker Compose Installation

```bash
# Build production multi-stage image
docker build -t trymemcp:0.1 .

# Run container on port 8000
docker run -p 8000:8000 trymemcp:0.1

# Or run via Docker Compose
docker compose up --build
```

## 5. Gitea CI/CD Secrets Setup

Before pushing to `main`, operators must configure these secrets in the Gitea repository settings for [`.gitea/workflows/cicd.yaml`](./.gitea/workflows/cicd.yaml):

- `CR_USER` / `CR_PAT`: Harbor container registry & OCI Helm chart repo (`harbor.freshbrewed.science`) credentials.
- `DHUSER` / `DHPAT`: DockerHub registry credentials.