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Local Development Data

The backend/data directory contains seed data files used by the backend when running in local development (NODE_ENV=development).

Instead of connecting to AWS S3, the backend reads from and writes to this directory. This keeps all local work fully isolated from the deployed Dev environment on AWS.

Structure

backend/data/
├── main/                                # Mirrors the Digital Landscape S3 bucket
│   ├── directorates.json
│   ├── bannerMessages.json
│   ├── techRadarEntries.json
│   ├── repositoryStatistics.json
│   └── AddressBook/
│       ├── addressBookEmailKey.json
│       ├── addressBookIDKey.json
│       └── addressBookUsernameKey.json
├── tat/                                 # Mirrors the TAT API S3 bucket
│   ├── array_data.json
│   └── new_project_data.json
└── copilot/                             # Mirrors the Copilot Usage Dashboard S3 bucket
    ├── admin_teams.json
    ├── organisation_history.json
    └── archive/
        ├── pre-feb25/
        │   └── historic_usage_data_feb25.json
        └── pre-mar26/
            ├── copilot_teams.json
            ├── historic_usage_data_mar26.json
            └── teams_history.json

Populating with real data

If you need realistic data locally, you can download files from the Dev S3 buckets and place them into backend/data.

  1. Log in with AWS SSO:
aws sso login
  1. Copy the files into the correct folders:
aws s3 cp s3://<S3 Object Path> backend/data/<path>

Notes

  • Keep downloaded data local and avoid committing real environment data.
  • For application runtime details, see Running the Project.