Developer Help — LifeLoveMe

How to start LifeLoveMe

Double-click StartLifeLoveMe.command in your LifeLoveMe folder (same folder as LLMVision.command).
Wait until the launcher finishes (it prepares files and starts the local preview).
Open http://localhost:8780/home/index.html on your Mac.

Advanced — command files and scripts

These live in your LifeLoveMe project folder:

StartLifeLoveMe.command → runs scripts/start_lifeloveme.sh
StopLifeLoveMe.command → runs scripts/stop_lifeloveme.sh
CheckLifeLoveMeStatus.command → runs scripts/check_lifeloveme_status.sh

Fast start without full prepare (if iCloud sync blocked prepare):

LLM_SKIP_PREPARE=1 ./scripts/start_lifeloveme.sh

Important URLs

Mac (local): http://localhost:8780/
iPhone (same Wi‑Fi): http://YOUR-MAC-IP:8780/ — find IP on Mac: System Settings → Wi‑Fi → Details → IP address. Phone and Mac must be on the same network.
Workbench: Communities → Workbench or http://localhost:8780/communities/workbench/index.html
Beta (public): https://beta.lifeloveme.com/

Workbench needs WorkbenchHelper.command running once for photo upload and member-page actions.

Port 8780 = deploy preview (deploy/web_public/, same as Netlify). LLMVision.command = menu for start, prepare-deploy, and tests.

What developers can use in the app

Main tools (open after StartLifeLoveMe):

Community Workbench — steps 1–8

Create Community — new group page and folders
Add Media Section — gallery, events, audio, video, documents
Scan Media Folder — find photos, MP3, MP4, PDF in staging
Export Excel for Editing — spreadsheet for titles and order
Import Edited Excel — apply your edits to site data
Preview Page — open the community in the browser
Check Problems — missing files and warnings
Prepare Deploy — copy web/ → deploy/web_public/

Workbench also has Create Member Page (personal pages) — separate from steps 1–8.

Prepare and test before Netlify deployment

1) What `prepare_deploy.sh` does

Copies latest files from web/ into deploy/web_public/.
deploy/web_public/ is the folder tested locally on port 8780.
deploy/web_public/ is the folder uploaded/deployed to Netlify.

Advanced — run prepare now

./scripts/prepare_deploy.sh

2) When to run `prepare_deploy.sh`

Run it:

before Netlify deployment
after changing files in web/
after adding Help pages
after changing shared JS/CSS
after adding or changing personal/community pages
when deploy preview looks stale

When should I run `prepare_deploy.sh`?

prepare_deploy.sh copies the latest source files from web/ into deploy/web_public/. That folder is tested on port 8780 and deployed to Netlify.

Use it when:

preparing for Netlify deploy
after changing web/ files
after adding Help pages
after adding or changing shared JS/CSS
after adding pages that should be included in deploy
when deploy preview looks stale

Do not use it for every small test:

StartLifeLoveMe.command is enough for normal local testing.
repair_personal_pages.sh is enough for personal-page repair/sync.
LLM_SKIP_PREPARE=1 can be used for fast local startup when deploy files are already current.

3) How to test deploy folder locally

Manual command:

Advanced — local deploy server command

python3 -m http.server 8780 -d deploy/web_public

Then open: http://localhost:8780/

Test these pages:

Home
Help
Sudhir's Next Chapter
Communities
important personal/community pages

4) Easier local testing

Use StartLifeLoveMe.command.

This prepares and starts local preview and helper for development testing.

5) Before Netlify rule

Run ./scripts/prepare_deploy.sh.
Test deploy/web_public locally on port 8780.
Confirm key pages work.
Deploy only deploy/web_public to Netlify.

6) Helper note

The helper is needed locally for editing and saving pages.
Normal public pages on Netlify should open without the helper.
Live user editing will require a future cloud backend.

Member pages from photos

Step-by-step guide for creating family or friend pages from named photos.

How to create member pages from photos →

Advanced — intake folder and scripts

Intake folder: ~/LifeLoveMe_Imports/member_photos/

Naming: firstname-1.jpg = profile, firstname-2.jpg+ = gallery.

python3 scripts/create_member_page_from_intake.py --name Ankit --json
python3 scripts/intake_member_photos.py

Source doc: data/knowledge/workbench/member_page_creation_workflow.md

Photo compression (phone-first)

Target: 200 KB or less per image, output JPG.
Profile saves as avatar.jpg (max dimension starts around 1200px).
Quality lowers from 85 down to minimum 55 until under budget; then dimensions shrink if needed.
Workbench and intake scripts report original → compressed size for each file.

Repair personal pages

Syncs personal page HTML, JavaScript, JSON, and images from web/ to the local preview folder.

Advanced — repair command

./scripts/repair_personal_pages.sh sudhirs-next-chapter

Replace the slug with the member page id (e.g. ankits-next-chapter). Omit the slug to repair all personal pages listed in the script.

Deploy to Netlify

Start LifeLoveMe and open Workbench.
Run Prepare Deploy (copies approved web/ files into deploy/web_public/).
From the LifeLoveMe folder in Terminal, deploy the prepared folder to Netlify.
Check beta.lifeloveme.com after deploy finishes.

Advanced — prepare and Netlify CLI

./scripts/prepare_deploy.sh
netlify deploy --prod --dir="deploy/web_public"

Or use LLMVision.command menu options for prepare-deploy. Never edit deploy/web_public by hand — change web/ instead.

After Netlify deploy

Open beta.lifeloveme.com (or your production URL).
Hard-refresh, or add ?fresh=1 / ?v= on pages you changed.
Spot-check: Home, Help, Communities, one personal page, one community you updated.
On iPhone: use the beta URL (not Mac localhost). Clear site data only if it still looks old.
Optional: run release smoke tests — see Testing Guide.
Public beta does not need the helper for viewing. Editing still needs Mac + helper locally.

Advanced — Netlify CLI deploy

netlify deploy --prod --dir="deploy/web_public"

If iPhone shows old behavior

Safari on iPhone can keep yesterday’s JavaScript when testing on your Mac’s local IP (http://192.168.x.x:8780). Mac may look fine while the phone still runs stale modules.

Open the page with a fresh query, e.g. ?fresh=1 or ?fresh=askfix on Home: http://YOUR-MAC-IP:8780/home/index.html?fresh=1
Close the tab completely, then open the link again (do not rely on back/forward).
Try a Private tab in Safari — no old cache from earlier tests.
On iPhone: Settings → Safari → Advanced → Website Data — remove data for your Mac’s IP address (or clear all website data if unsure).
On Mac: quit and run StartLifeLoveMe.command again — this bumps the app build version and serves preview files with no-cache headers.

Check the build version line at the bottom of this page. After restart it should match the version printed in the StartLifeLoveMe terminal window.

Normal member links stay clean (/home/, community pages). Asset URLs are versioned automatically on deploy. Use ?fresh= only when you are actively testing and need an extra force-refresh.

Troubleshooting

Page keeps loading / blank personal page: Run CheckLifeLoveMeStatus.command. Repair the page slug. Hard-refresh or use a fresh tab with ?v= timestamp from Workbench preview links.
Workbench helper not working: Double-click WorkbenchHelper.command, then refresh Workbench. Status line at top should show helper OK.
Photo upload fails: Helper must be running. For batch member photos use intake folder + Create Member Page, not manual copy into deploy.
Stale deploy / old content on beta: Run Prepare Deploy again, redeploy, then open beta with a cache-bust query (e.g. ?fresh=1) or clear site data on the device.
iPhone shows old page but Mac looks fine: See If iPhone shows old behavior — use LAN URL with ?fresh=; clear Safari website data for your Mac IP; restart StartLifeLoveMe.command.