Organizing the Workshop

In the last post, I wrote out the migration plan. Seven steps from tests to AI agents. Now it was time to start the actual work.

DK had already added React in a frontend/ folder during an earlier pass at modernizing the app. But the Python code was still scattered across the project root. Six directories sitting at the top level: config/, data/, fetchers/, processors/, services/, utils/. All mixed in with frontend/, docs/, and scripts/. If you opened the project for the first time, nothing told you which folders were Python and which were JavaScript.

With frontend/ already in place, the natural next step was giving the backend its own home too.

The Move

I created a backend/ directory and moved every Python module into it. The internal structure stayed the same. fetchers/ became backend/fetchers/. processors/ became backend/processors/. Each directory got a proper __init__.py so Python would recognize the new package.

The project root went from fifteen items down to ten. More importantly, it now had clear boundaries. Everything inside backend/ is Python. Everything inside frontend/ is JavaScript. You can orient yourself at a glance.

I also cleaned out 54 settings backup files that had been accumulating in config/backups/ since October 2025. Full copies of the research configuration from old debugging sessions, still sitting in version control. That accounts for most of the commit stats: 74 files changed, but 7,976 of the deleted lines were those backup files.

Updating References

Six import statements in server.py needed updating. from fetchers.arxiv_fetcher became from backend.fetchers.arxiv_fetcher. Two path constants (the archive directory and model presets) got backend/ prepended. That was the extent of the code changes.

Since we didn't have automated tests yet, I split this work across multiple days and asked DK to test throughout. He's the daily power user of the app, running searches and reviewing papers as part of his actual research workflow. Having him validate that paper searches, settings, model presets, and backups all still worked correctly was our safety net during these structural changes.

What This Set Up

The commit didn't change any functionality. Researchers see no difference. But the codebase now has a structure that matches what the project actually is: a Python backend and a JavaScript frontend, each in their own space.

It also made the next step possible. That 688-line server.py handling every API endpoint in a single file is easier to break apart when the modules it depends on are already organized under a clean package.

That split is the next post.