Synesthesia tests

Vue 2 + PHP application for synesthesia research tests, built with Vite and stored in SQLite.

Local development

1. Install JS dependencies with yarn install.
2. Install PHP dependencies with composer install in server/.
3. Copy .env.example to .env and adjust paths if needed.
4. Start Vite with yarn dev.
5. Start PHP with yarn dev:php.
6. Open http://localhost:8000.

The API will create the SQLite database automatically at first request. You can also hit /api/setup.

Backups

Backups are pushed to SURFdrive over WebDAV:

• automatic backup:
  • checked on normal page loads
  • runs only when data changed since the last successful backup
  • retries at most once per hour if a previous automatic attempt failed
• manual backup:
  • GET /backup
  • GET /api/backup

Required env vars:

• SURFDRIVE_WEBDAV_URL
  • full target WebDAV folder URL
• SURFDRIVE_USERNAME
• SURFDRIVE_PASSWORD

Each successful backup uploads:

• a timestamped profiles-*.csv
• a timestamped questions-*.csv
• profiles-latest.csv
• questions-latest.csv

Config update

The app can refresh synesthesia_config directly from GitHub:

• GET /update
• GET /api/update

Update workflow:

1. download the GitHub archive for BSTN/synesthesia_config master
2. validate YAML and expected file structure there
3. only replace the live synesthesia_config directory if validation passes

Validation errors are returned with file-specific messages.

Optional env overrides:

• CONFIG_REPO_URL
• CONFIG_REPO_BRANCH
• CONFIG_REPO_ARCHIVE_URL

Diagnostics

Runtime diagnostics are available at:

• GET /diagnostics
• GET /api/diagnostics

This reports:

• PHP version / environment
• whether curl, ZipArchive, pdo_sqlite, and sqlite3 are available
• whether config/data/temp paths are present and writable
• whether GitHub archive download is reachable from the host

Production/shared hosting

• Use server/ as the web root if your hosting panel allows it.
• Run yarn build before deployment so server/dist/ contains the frontend assets.
• Run composer install --no-dev in server/.
• Ensure the directory configured by DATA_PATH is writable by PHP.
• Keep synesthesia_config deployed next to this repository and point CONFIGPATH to it.
• Ensure PHP has:
  • pdo_sqlite
  • sqlite3
  • curl

Environment variables

BASE

• Base path for the application, default /.

CONFIGBASE

• Public path to the config repository, default /synesthesia_config.

CONFIGPATH

• Filesystem path to the config repository, default ../synesthesia_config.

APP_ORIGIN

• Vite dev server origin, used only in development.

APP_ENV

• Application environment, default production. Use development locally.

DATA_PATH, SQLITE_PATH, TEMP_PATH

• Writable filesystem paths for the SQLite database and temp/export files.

SURFDRIVE_WEBDAV_URL, SURFDRIVE_USERNAME, SURFDRIVE_PASSWORD

• WebDAV destination and credentials used by backup sync.

Notes

• Fonts still depend on the configuration/assets already used by the app.