White-label 3D carport configurator and regional pricing engine for metal-building dealers.
Customers design carports and metal structures in the browser, get ZIP-based quotes, and share builds by link. Dealers get live pricing, sales tools, saved builds, contracts, and PDF workflows — all themed per tenant from one codebase.
Local demo: http://localhost:8000/
| Doc | Contents |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Multi-tenancy, config lifecycle, pricing engine, 3D renderer, auth, email/PDF |
| API Reference | REST endpoints, SPA routes, configuration schema, admin |
| Development Guide | Setup, Docker, env vars, commands, troubleshooting, deployment |
The long-term goal is an AI-native carport builder: users describe what they want in natural language, and the platform generates a valid configuration, 3D preview, and regional price automatically.
Example prompts the product should eventually support:
- "22×31 vertical-roof carport, 12' legs, clay ends, merlot roof, one 9×8 garage door on the front."
- "Add a 10' lean-to on the left with storage."
- "Make it engineer certified and show me the quote for zip 23451."
Today, SmartCarport is the foundation for that vision — a full rules engine, procedural 3D renderer, pricing backend, and dealer workflow stack. The AI layer will sit on top of this existing configuration model: prompts translate into structured build state, the server validates options against regional catalog rules, and the canvas updates in real time.
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| Building styles Start from Standard, Garage, Utility, Side Combo, Step-Down Barn, Straight-Line Barn, or Lean-To. |
Live dimensions Set width, length, and height from the top bar and watch the 3D model resize in real time. |
Style & options Configure roof type, engineer certification, frame gauge, and surface finish per region. |
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| Lean-tos Add left or right lean-to sections with independent width, length, height, pitch, and storage. |
Sides & ends Enclose walls and gable ends with open, fully enclosed, gable, and partial-side options. |
Color picker Choose roof, trim, ends, wainscot, and colored screw options from the regional palette. |
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| Openings Place walk-in doors, windows, garage doors, and frameouts with on-model placement controls. |
Saved builds Dealers save designs, revisit My Builds, and manage profile from the dealer menu. |
Real-time 3D Procedural Three.js canvas with orbit controls, dimension overlays, and multi-angle screenshots on save. |
- Regional pricing — ZIP-gated service area; backend computes line items, surcharges, tax, deposit, and payment fees
- Shareable links — builds autosave to
/api/configurations/and resume at/<uuid>/ - Quote & contracts — request quote, email configuration link, contract preview, and PDF delivery via Playwright
- White-label theming — logo, colors, contact info, and analytics resolved from hostname
- Admin CMS — sites, pricing catalog, users, configurations, and HTML pages at
/admin/
flowchart TD
Start([Visitor lands on site]) --> Host{Resolve tenant by hostname}
Host --> Zip[Enter ZIP code]
Zip --> InArea{In service area?}
InArea -->|No| OutOfArea[Out of service area]
InArea -->|Yes| Style[Pick carport style]
Style --> Create[POST /api/configurations/]
Create --> Design[Configure in 3D sidebar + canvas]
Design --> Save[Debounced PUT autosave]
Save --> Design
Design --> Share[Email configuration link]
Design --> Resume[Open /uuid/ link]
Resume --> Load[GET configuration]
Load --> Design
Design --> Auth{Dealer logged in?}
Auth -->|No| Quote[Request Quote]
Quote --> EmailQuote[Email to sales inbox]
Auth -->|Yes| Price[Live pricing + sales tools]
Price --> MyBuilds[Save to My Builds]
Price --> Contract[Contract preview / Buy Now]
Contract --> Pdf[PDF via Playwright]
Pdf --> EmailContract[Email contract]
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend | Python 3.9, Django 4.2, Django REST Framework, dj-rest-auth |
| Frontend | React 18, React Router 6, Zustand, Tailwind CSS 4 |
| Build | Vite 6, django-vite (HMR in dev) |
| 3D | Three.js 0.176 (procedural carport geometry) |
| Database | PostgreSQL |
| Cache | Redis 7 via django-redis |
| Storage | Backblaze B2 (S3-compatible, django-storages) |
| SendGrid (production), console backend (development) | |
| Playwright (headless Chromium) | |
| Server | Uvicorn ASGI (production), Django runserver (development) |
Requires Docker and a PostgreSQL server reachable from Docker.
cp .env.example .env
# set DATABASE_URL — use host.docker.internal for host Postgres, not localhost
docker compose up --buildOpen http://localhost:8000. The web container runs migrations, builds frontend assets, and starts Django.
Requires Python 3.9, Node.js 20.x, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Pipenv.
cp .env.example .env
pipenv install --dev
npm install --legacy-peer-deps
pipenv run python manage.py migrate
docker compose up redis -d # or run Redis locally on :6379
# Terminal 1 — Vite dev server (django-vite HMR)
npm run dev
# Terminal 2 — Django
pipenv run python manage.py runserverFor contract PDF generation:
pipenv run playwright install chromiumSee the Development Guide for environment variables, sample data restore, and troubleshooting.
smartcarport/ Django project (settings, urls, ASGI)
api/
sites/ Multi-tenant Site and Theme models
users/ Custom user, auth, saved builds
options/ Regional pricing catalog
configurations/ Build state, images, pricing engine
utils/ Mixin-based Building price computation
emails/ Quote, link, and contract email flows
pages/ Per-site CMS pages
printing/ Contract HTML and PDF endpoints
client/
static_src/ React SPA, Three.js generators, Zustand stores
static/ Vite build output (gitignored)
templates/ SPA shell with injected site JSON
docs/ Documentation and feature screenshots
tests/ Pricing unit tests
docker-compose.yml web + redis services
Dockerfile Python 3.9 + Node 20 + Pipenv + npm ci
Procfile Heroku: migrate + uvicorn
- IdeaRoom Carports
- Carport1 Live Designer
- Sensei Digital 3D Carport Builder
- Safeguard Metal Buildings Designer
- Steel Buildings and Structures Designer
GPL-3.0-or-later — see LICENSE.