Routine Maker API

This project uses Flask, PostgreSQL, and Google OR-Tools to generate school routines that respect real-world constraints — specifically tailored for schools following the NCTB (Bangladesh) curriculum..

Run the project by :

flask run

Before that, you must update the .env and alembic.ini's configuration, and generate migration and upgrade them to PostgreSQL.

flask db migrate
flask db upgrade

Key Features

• Fully RESTful API. (Postman/Insomnia export is available for quick testing.)
• PostgreSQL Integration: Stores data related to schools, teachers, classes, and subjects.
• Constraint-Driven Scheduling: OR-Tools ensures the routine respects logical and resource-based constraints.
• Modular Codebase: Separated concerns for models, routes, and extensions for clean and scalable development.
• Migration Ready: Uses Flask-Migrate for seamless database migrations.
• Flexible Data Input: Easily add or update teachers, classes, subjects, and shifts via API endpoints.
• Conflict-Free Routines: Ensures schedules are generated without overlapping teachers or repeated subjects.

Constraints Planning and Schedule Rules

These are the rules the scheduling system follows using OR-Tools:

• No Teacher Clashes: A teacher can’t be assigned to two classes at the same time.

• Qualified Teacher Only: Only teachers qualified for a specific class and subject can be assigned.

• Teacher Availability: Teachers are only scheduled during their available shifts and days.

• No Subject Repetition: A subject can't be repeated for the same class in a single day.

• Class Shift Availability: Scheduling checks if the class is active during the specific shift (e.g., morning, afternoon).

• Subject Coverage: Subjects are assigned the exact required number of sessions per week.

Limitations

• No way to handle if a teacher doesn't take any classes on a particular day.
• Not quite dynamic to handle any kind of schools routine generation.
• No way to provide gap between classes for any specific teacher

Potential Improvements

Compared to the previous version, this project generates only one schedule per run, and the resulting CSV is simpler.

• Add shift start/end times in the database and show actual times instead of numeric slots.

• Allow users to customize active days instead of auto-starting from Saturday.

• Improve CSV formatting to reflect full teacher-class-subject-time metadata.

• Add schedule visualization (web dashboard or calendar-style output).

• Generate multiple valid schedules and allow user to choose.