Tutorial Guide: Forecast-As-A-Service

• Introduction
• What You’Ll Build
• Before You Begin
• Using the Script

Introduction¶

• This tutorial walks you through how to run the Forecast‑as‑a‑Service project using Docker Compose
  • A two-container system for forecasting time series data
  • Provides an interactive Dash frontend and FastAPI backend
  • Supports uploading time series data and returning Prophet-based forecasts

What You’ll Build¶

• A Dockerized FastAPI backend that runs forecasting using Prophet
• A Dash frontend where users can upload CSV files
• A visualized forecast plot shown on the dashboard

Before You Begin¶

• Docker and Docker Compose installed and running
• Local clone of the tutorial_forecast_as_service repo
• Linux/macOS terminal
• Ensure ports 8000 (API) and 8050 (UI) are available

Using the Script¶

• Step 1: Navigate to the project directory

  > cd $GIT_ROOT/tutorial_forecast_as_service

• Step 2: Set up thin environment

  > ./tutorial_forecast_as_service/thin_client/setenv.sh

• Step 3: Activate the virtual environment

  > source dev_scripts_tutorial_forecast_as_service/thin_client/setenv.sh

• Step 4: Build the Docker image

  > i docker_build_local_image --version 1.0.0

• Step 5: Launch the forecast web service

  > ./devops/docker_run/run_docker_forecast.sh 1.0.0

• Step 5: Open the app in your browser

  • Access the forecast app UI at: http://localhost:8050 or http://0.0.0.0:8050
  - Access the FastAPI docs at: [http://localhost:8000/docs](http://localhost:8000/docs) or [http://0.0.0.0:8000/docs](http://0.0.0.0:8000/docs)

• Step 6: Upload your CSV file

  • Use the drag-and-drop file upload box at the top of the dashboard
  • The file must contain: a ds column (date), and a y column (value)
  

• Step 7: Click generate forecast

  • After upload, press the Generate Forecast button
  

• Step 8: View forecast results

  • The app will show:
    • A line chart of predicted values
    • A summary of min/max/mean and time range
  

• Step 9: Stop the service

  • In the same terminal, press CTRL+C once to stop the containers