ContractsCounsel - the toolset

ContractsCounsel is a platform that allows clients to post projects and lawyers to bid on them. Clients can then hire a lawyer, and the platform will securely support communication between lawyer and client while the project is delivered.

The Basics

The bread-and-butter of the implementation

Python
The programming language. We are using version 3.7.x.
Django
The web framework. We are using version 3.0.x. I'm not a perfectionist, but I do have deadlines!
MariaDB
The SQL database, for storing all the data
Boto3
A Python library to interact with AWS
pdfkit
wkhtmltopdf
Convert HTML to PDF. We need this to create PDF invoices easily.
Stripe
Used to take payments.

Testing and Monitoring

Testing helps to ensure reliability. It provides confidence in making changes, helping to ensure that nothing else has been broken.

Monitoring is used to ensure that the live site is available.

pytest
pytest-django
The testing framework.
Model Bakery
For creating test data
Moto
This helps in testing AWS by mocking AWS services.
Selenium
For more complex tests where Javascript in the browser is required
Coverage.py
pytest-cov
For ensuring that all the code is being tested. We are currently at 99% coverage.
Django Debug Toolbar
For monitoring the system during development. Most useful for ensuring that the database is being used efdf
UptimeRobot
For ensuring the live site is available

Deployment

Deployment needs to be automated and painless. Frequent automation is valuable - on the path to CD - but not necessary at this stage.
Fabric
For automating deployments using Python
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
The Linux distro
AWS

We host on Amazon Web Services, using:

  • Amazon EC2 to host Ubuntu
  • Amazon RDS to host MariaDB
  • Amazon SES to send the emails
  • Amazon S3 to store images
Nginx
The web-server
Gunicorn
Officially a python WSGI HTTP Server for UNIX. The connector between Python and Nginx.
Let's Encrypt
Provider of SSL certificates

Communication

As remote workers, communication is vital. We talk twice a week, more if needed.
zoom
Video-conferencing
Trello
To manage the development work: currently used for both enhancements and bug-tracking.
WeTransfer
For moving files that are too large for email
CloudApp
For sharing screenshots with annotations

Miscellaneous

GIMP
Image editing
git
GitHub
For code storage and version control