This flow chart is a result of the learnings from the trader-plugin project. It illustrates the actions required to rebalance a portfolio. It is plotted on a timeline and shows what can be done in parallel and what must be done consecutively.
The platform is a collection of components that work together. Each component is responsible for specific tasks. The colors correspond to the actions in the flow chart for which the component is responsible. A GUI is added to the architecture for completeness, but is outside of the scope of this project. In this approach, the GUI handles users, authentication and authorization. TraderEngine is intended to be an non-exposed internal API that is purely focussed on doing the hard trader work.
There are three ways to run the stack, depending on what you're doing:
Native debugging (fastest iteration). Run TraderEngine.API and TraderEngine.Web as regular .NET processes from Visual Studio (F5, no Docker involved for the apps themselves); only Postgres runs in a container, exposed to the host:
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.debug.yml up -d traderengine.postgres
Full container debugging (one-click, closer to production topology). Set docker-compose as the startup project in Visual Studio and hit F5. Both API and Web build and debug inside containers via Fast Mode (built on the host, mounted into the container — no manual docker compose command needed). See docker-compose.dcproj.
Production / manual full stack:
docker compose --env-file .env.example --env-file .env up -d
Uses each project's production Dockerfile, which expects a prior dotnet publish -c Release (this is what CI does before building the image).
| File | Purpose | Used by |
|---|---|---|
docker-compose.yml |
Base service definitions (Postgres, API, Web) — source of truth for production. | All scenarios |
docker-compose.debug.yml |
Exposes Postgres on localhost:5432; redirects the API/Web build to Dockerfile.debug with the build context widened to the repo root. Not auto-loaded by a plain docker compose invocation. |
Manually via -f, or by docker-compose.dcproj via AdditionalComposeFilePaths |
docker-compose.dcproj |
Visual Studio's Docker Compose project — wires up docker-compose.yml + docker-compose.debug.yml + env files for one-click F5. |
Visual Studio only |
TraderEngine.API/Dockerfile, TraderEngine.Web/Dockerfile |
Production images: thin, expect a prebuilt bin/Release/.../publish. |
Production deploys, CI |
TraderEngine.API/Dockerfile.debug, TraderEngine.Web/Dockerfile.debug |
Self-contained: build from source inside the image. VS Fast Mode only. | docker-compose.debug.yml only |
.env.example (committed) holds default values; .env (gitignored) holds your private overrides and wins on any conflicting key. Pass both --env-file flags in that order for manual commands; Visual Studio does this automatically via DockerComposeEnvFilePaths in the .dcproj.