Want to contribute? Explore the public roadmap or claim a scoped task from Ready for contributors.

QuantDinger can submit real orders when live trading is explicitly enabled. Start with paper trading, use restricted API keys, and review the risk and compliance requirements for your jurisdiction. This project does not provide investment advice.

Watch QuantDinger in action

What QuantDinger is

QuantDinger is an open-source AI Trading OS for independent traders, Python strategy authors, and small teams. Its local-first, self-hosted design keeps market data, strategy code, broker credentials, and deployment under the operator's control.

The project combines:

• multi-provider AI market research and analysis;
• Python indicators and Strategy API V2 development;
• server-side backtesting and experiment workflows;
• paper and live execution across crypto exchanges and traditional brokers;
• web, mobile H5, human API, Agent Gateway, and MCP access;
• PostgreSQL-backed state, durable workers, audit logs, and optional monitoring.

It is not a black-box signal service. Strategy code, risk settings, credentials, and deployment remain under the operator's control.

Strategy evolution and signal-only virtual accounts

• Strategy evolution searches declared tunable parameters with random, grid, or TPE optimization, using bar-count walk-forward validation and a final blind holdout. Jobs run asynchronously with per-strategy history, automatic pruning, composite scoring, PBO, Deflated Sharpe, block-bootstrap Monte Carlo, and transaction-cost stress tests. Results compare parameter robustness; they do not forecast future returns.
• Signal-only virtual accounts turn notification-mode signals into internal virtual orders, fills, positions, trade records, PnL, and an equity curve. They never connect to a broker or submit live orders. Each fill uses a fixed 0.05% commission on executed notional and 0.05% adverse slippage; leverage is not charged a second time in the commission calculation.

What changed in v5

The v5 backend is organized around explicit runtime and operational boundaries:

• the HTTP API no longer owns long-running trading or scheduler loops;
• trading, scheduling, Celery jobs, and migrations run as separate processes;
• Celery handles finite, retryable work while long-lived strategy runtimes stay in the trading worker;
• cache Redis and durable job Redis use separate instances and eviction policies;
• high-risk API contracts are represented in OpenAPI and protected by tests;
• JSON logs, request IDs, Prometheus metrics, dashboards, and alert rules are available through an optional observability overlay;
• the production overlay runs backend processes as a non-root user with a read-only root filesystem, dropped capabilities, and resource limits;
• CI checks syntax, lint, tests, release gates, Compose files, dependencies, source security, secrets, API compatibility, version drift, and text encoding.

The source version is declared in VERSION. Git release tags use the same semantic version with a leading v, for example v5.0.1.

Architecture

_{The editable source is architecture-v5.svg; the Mermaid topology below is the detailed runtime source of truth.}

The static diagram above is the product-level view. The runtime topology below is the current source of truth for container ownership and event/data flow.

flowchart TB
    C["Web / Mobile / API / MCP clients"]
    FE["Nginx frontend services"]
    API["Flask + Gunicorn API"]
    PG[("PostgreSQL")]
    CACHE[("Redis cache")]
    JOBS[("Redis jobs")]
    KAFKA[("Kafka event backbone")]
    TW["Trading workers\ncontrol, realtime, execution, grid actors"]
    DISPATCH["Strategy dispatcher workers"]
    EVAL["Strategy evaluator workers\nhot bar runtimes"]
    AUDIT["Kafka audit worker"]
    SW["Scheduler worker"]
    CW["Celery worker"]
    BEAT["Celery beat"]
    PROM["Prometheus"]
    GRAF["Grafana"]
    ALERT["Alertmanager"]

    C --> FE --> API
    API --> PG
    API --> CACHE
    API -->|"durable commands"| PG
    TW -->|"leases, order intents, fills, grid actor state"| PG
    TW -->|"closed bars and lifecycle events"| KAFKA
    KAFKA --> DISPATCH --> KAFKA
    KAFKA --> EVAL
    EVAL -->|"inbox, leases, checkpoints, order intents"| PG
    KAFKA --> AUDIT --> PG
    PG -->|"owned pending orders"| TW
    SW -->|"schedules, monitoring, heartbeats"| PG
    API -->|"finite async jobs"| JOBS
    BEAT --> JOBS --> CW
    CW --> PG
    API -. metrics .-> PROM
    PG -. exporter .-> PROM
    CACHE -. exporter .-> PROM
    JOBS -. exporter .-> PROM
    PROM --> GRAF
    PROM --> ALERT

One backend image is reused by several containers with different commands:

See Backend process roles, architecture, and concurrency model for the ownership rules. Use the distributed runtime deployment and scaling guide before changing replica counts or moving the stack to multiple hosts.

Quick start

Option A: prebuilt images

Prerequisites: Docker with Compose v2. Node.js and a local Python environment are not required.

Linux or macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenByteInc/QuantDinger/main/install.sh | bash

Windows PowerShell:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenByteInc/QuantDinger/main/install.ps1 | iex

The installer asks for the initial administrator credentials, generates the required secrets, downloads the GHCR Compose stack, and starts it.

Open:

• Web: http://127.0.0.1:8888
• Mobile H5: http://127.0.0.1:8889
• API health: http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/health

Docker administrator and settings notes

Detailed guides: English | 中文

On a fresh database, the backend creates the initial administrator from ADMIN_USER, ADMIN_PASSWORD, and optional ADMIN_EMAIL. Passwords are stored as hashes, never as plaintext. An existing PostgreSQL volume is not overwritten: the backend only replaces the untouched legacy quantdinger / 123456 administrator when a non-default administrator is explicitly configured. It never overwrites an account whose password was already changed, and it refuses to promote an existing account that already uses the requested username.

Manual Docker deployments retain quantdinger / 123456 only for backward compatibility when the administrator variables are left at their defaults. This credential is not suitable for an internet-facing deployment; change it before first start or immediately after the first login. The one-command installer does not accept 123456 as the chosen password.

The Settings UI writes runtime configuration to /app/.env, which is the project-root .env on the host for both GHCR and source deployments. Current backend images automatically give runtime UID 10001 ownership and keep mode 600. Do not use chmod 755 or recursive 777: these files contain passwords and API keys, and 755 still does not grant write access to UID 10001 when root owns the file.

Verify write access with:

docker compose exec -u 10001:10001 -T backend \
  sh -c 'test -w /app/.env && echo writable=yes || echo writable=no'

The hardened production override intentionally mounts /app/.env read-only. When using docker-compose.production.yml, manage configuration on the host and recreate the services instead of saving it from the Settings UI. See the English guide or 中文指南 for legacy-image recovery and rootless/NFS notes.

Option B: source checkout

git clone https://github.com/OpenByteInc/QuantDinger.git
cd QuantDinger
cp .env.example .env

Before the first start, replace the example values in the unified environment file:

After an update, docker compose up runs the one-shot env-sync service before database and Kafka initialization. It appends newly introduced settings, imports missing values from the legacy backend env files, preserves existing values and comments, and creates a timestamped backup only when the unified file changes. The command below remains available for a manual preview or maintenance run:

python scripts/sync_env.py --env-file .env --template .env.example --backup

For a manual one-time migration from older releases, add --legacy backend_api_python/.env (source deployment) or --legacy backend.env (old GHCR deployment). The old file is not deleted.

Generate independent secrets with:

python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))"

Start the core stack from local backend source:

docker compose up -d --build
docker compose ps

The base stack does not start Prometheus, Grafana, or Alertmanager. This keeps the default open-source installation smaller.

For detailed installation paths, Windows notes, China mirror settings, and PostgreSQL migration guidance, see Installation troubleshooting and the cloud deployment guide.

Production deployment

Validate secrets before starting a production stack:

python backend_api_python/scripts/check_production_config.py \
  --env-file .env

Start the hardened runtime with optional observability:

docker compose \
  -f docker-compose.yml \
  -f docker-compose.production.yml \
  -f docker-compose.observability.yml \
  up -d --build

Omit docker-compose.observability.yml when the host is resource-constrained or monitoring is provided externally.

Production rules:

• expose only a TLS reverse proxy on ports 80/443;
• keep PostgreSQL, both Redis instances, Prometheus, Grafana, and Alertmanager off the public internet;
• do not deploy with example passwords or empty encryption keys;
• back up PostgreSQL and the durable redis-jobs volume;
• keep cache Redis disposable and never use it as the Celery broker;
• review worker health and application readiness after every deployment.

The full checklist is in Production hardening.

Local endpoints

All published ports bind to loopback by default.

Container-only ports such as the job Redis and exporters are not published to the host.

Observability

The monitoring stack is optional by design:

• Prometheus collects API, worker, PostgreSQL, and Redis metrics.
• Grafana turns those metrics into operator dashboards.
• Alertmanager groups alerts, manages silences, and sends notifications once a receiver is configured.

Start it for local diagnostics without the production overlay:

docker compose \
  -f docker-compose.yml \
  -f docker-compose.observability.yml \
  up -d

Monitoring services stay on 127.0.0.1. Use a VPN, SSH tunnel, or authenticated reverse proxy for remote administration. See Observability for dashboards, alerts, retention, and receiver configuration.

Security model

• Broker credentials and MFA secrets are encrypted with a stable CREDENTIAL_ENCRYPTION_KEY.
• Agent tokens are hashed, scoped, rate-limited, and audit-logged.
• Agent trading is paper-only by default; live access requires both token and server-side authorization.
• Long-running strategy ownership uses leases, heartbeats, and fencing tokens.
• Production containers run without root privileges or Linux capabilities.
• Host port defaults are loopback-only; public access should terminate at a TLS reverse proxy.

Report vulnerabilities privately according to SECURITY.md. Do not include credentials, account data, or exploitable details in public issues.

Strategy and integration surfaces

Start with the Indicator guide, Strategy guide, and Extension guide.

JEV-powered pre-trade decisions

QuantDinger can place a structured AI decision gate directly in front of live entry orders. Enable AI Decision Filter when creating a regular live strategy, or turn it on in Quick Trade. Before an entry reaches the exchange, QuantDinger sends the order, strategy context, exposure, positions, and budget state to TypeSafe Jev. Jev returns typed Choice results, probabilities, and confidence instead of prose that must be parsed. The app shows the provider, checks, result, confidence, latency, and reason in an auditable decision timeline.

The execution policy stays in QuantDinger code: rejected entries never reach the exchange; exits, stop-loss, take-profit, and emergency actions bypass the filter. Grid, DCA, and martingale runtimes are excluded from this first version. When Jev is not configured, QuantDinger tries the configured LLM. If no AI provider is available, the order is allowed and the fail-open result is logged, so an AI outage cannot trap an existing position.

Decision flow

flowchart TD
    A["Strategy signal / Quick Trade instruction"] --> B["Deterministic risk and order budget checks"]
    B -->|"Basic checks fail"| R["Reject order"]
    B -->|"Basic checks pass"| C["Build Decision Context V2"]

    C --> C1["Strategy parameters and signal rationale"]
    C --> C2["Multi-timeframe market data and indicators"]
    C --> C3["Positions, exposure, equity, and drawdown"]
    C --> C4["Recent PnL and consecutive losses"]
    C --> C5["Take-profit, stop-loss, and execution conditions"]

    C1 --> D
    C2 --> D
    C3 --> D
    C4 --> D
    C5 --> D

    D{"JEV configured?"}

    D -->|"Yes"| E["JEV System One"]
    E --> E1["Evidence quality"]
    E --> E2["Signal consistency"]
    E --> E3["Market regime"]
    E --> E4["Account risk"]
    E --> E5["Execution quality"]
    E --> E6["Entry decision: pass/reject"]

    E1 --> F["Validate schema, probabilities, and confidence"]
    E2 --> F
    E3 --> F
    E4 --> F
    E5 --> F
    E6 --> F

    F -->|"Valid result and confidence threshold met"| G["Deterministic decision converger"]
    F -->|"Timeout, error, invalid format, or low confidence"| H

    D -->|"No"| H{"LLM configured?"}
    H -->|"Yes"| I["LLM reads the same context"]
    I --> J["Require strict JSON output"]
    J --> K{"decision"}

    H -->|"No"| O["Fail open and log the reason"]

    G -->|"PASS"| P["Enter pending order queue"]
    G -->|"REJECT"| R
    K -->|"pass"| P
    K -->|"reject"| R
    K -->|"Invalid output or provider failure"| O

    P --> Q["Submit to exchange asynchronously"]
    R --> S["Record ai_rejected and the decision trace"]
    O --> T["Place order normally and record provider unavailable"]

Configure JEV_API_KEY, JEV_BASE_URL, JEV_MODEL, and JEV_TIMEOUT_SECONDS in System Settings → AI / LLM. TypeSafe documents the HTTP contract at POST /v1/systemone.

AI agents and MCP

The Agent Gateway is exposed under /api/agent/v1. The included MCP server lets clients such as Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex call approved tools without receiving broker credentials or administrator JWTs.

Live trading through an agent requires all of the following:

1. a token with trading scope;
2. paper_only=false on that token;
3. AGENT_LIVE_TRADING_ENABLED=true on the server;
4. operator-configured limits and allowlists.

See MCP setup, Agent quick start, and the Agent OpenAPI document.

Development

Backend development uses Python 3.12:

cd backend_api_python
python -m venv .venv
python -m pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
python -m pytest -m "not integration and not stress" --ignore=tests/release_gate -q
ruff check app scripts tests

Useful repository checks:

python scripts/check_version.py
python scripts/check_mojibake.py
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml config -q
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.production.yml -f docker-compose.observability.yml config -q

API changes should follow API conventions, update the OpenAPI artifact when required, and pass the compatibility workflow.

Repository layout

This repository contains the backend, worker processes, deployment definitions, operations configuration, documentation, and MCP server. The desktop and mobile client source code live in separate repositories; this repository consumes their published images in the Compose stacks.

QuantDinger/
|-- .github/workflows/                 CI, security, compatibility, and release checks
|-- backend_api_python/                Backend application and all backend processes
|   |-- app/
|   |   |-- __init__.py                Flask application factory and core wiring
|   |   |-- startup.py                 Process-aware startup hooks and service singletons
|   |   |-- celery_app.py              Celery application and task registration
|   |   |-- commands/                  Migration, scheduler, trading, and health entrypoints
|   |   |-- config/                    Environment-backed database, Redis, and provider config
|   |   |-- routes/                    Human HTTP API route facades
|   |   |   `-- agent_v1/              Scoped Agent Gateway API under /api/agent/v1
|   |   |-- openapi/                   OpenAPI schemas, tags, registration, and export support
|   |   |-- services/                  Domain workflows and third-party integrations
|   |   |   |-- backtest_engine/       Backtest execution components
|   |   |   |-- factors/               Point-in-time factor research and diagnostics
|   |   |   |-- strategy_evolution/    Parameter search, walk-forward validation, and robustness tests
|   |   |   |-- pending_orders/        Queued order submission, recovery, and reconciliation
|   |   |   |-- live_trading/          Normalized crypto exchange adapters
|   |   |   |-- alpaca_trading/        Alpaca broker integration
|   |   |   |-- ibkr_trading/          Interactive Brokers integration
|   |   |   |-- strategy_runtime/      Strategy signals, intents, execution, and state
|   |   |   |-- strategy_v2/           Versioned strategy contracts and runtime services
|   |   |   `-- virtual_trading.py     Isolated signal-mode account, positions, and fills
|   |   |-- data_sources/              Raw market-data source adapters
|   |   |-- data_providers/            Aggregated market, macro, news, and sentiment providers
|   |   |-- markets/                   Market and symbol normalization
|   |   |-- tasks/                     Finite, retryable Celery jobs
|   |   |-- workers/                   Long-lived worker process shells
|   |   |-- runtime/                   Process-role and ownership helpers
|   |   |-- observability/             Request context, metrics, and HTTP instrumentation
|   |   `-- utils/                     Shared low-level database, cache, auth, and logging helpers
|   |-- migrations/                    PostgreSQL schema and seed migrations
|   |-- scripts/                       Backend maintenance and validation commands
|   |-- tests/                         Unit, contract, integration, and release-gate tests
|   |-- run.py                         Local Flask and Gunicorn application entrypoint
|   |-- Dockerfile                     Shared image for API and worker containers
|   `-- docker-entrypoint.sh           Container command dispatcher
|-- docs/
|   |-- architecture/                  Boundaries, concurrency, API, and extension design
|   |-- deployment/                    Installation, production, and observability operations
|   |-- trading/                       Strategy and indicator development guides
|   |-- strategies/                    Strategy authoring and validation references
|   |-- api/                           Human API documentation
|   |-- agent/                         Agent Gateway and MCP documentation
|   |-- getting-started/               Onboarding and first-run guides
|   |-- product/                       Product workflows and feature documentation
|   `-- security/                      Security model and operational guidance
|-- mcp_server/                        Standalone QuantDinger MCP server package
|   |-- src/quantdinger_mcp/           MCP server and security implementation
|   `-- tests/                         MCP contract and security tests
|-- ops/                               Runtime operations configuration
|   |-- prometheus/                    Scrape configuration and alert rules
|   |-- grafana/                       Provisioned data sources and dashboards
|   `-- alertmanager/                  Alert routing configuration
|-- scripts/                           Repository-level version, encoding, and setup checks
|-- docker-compose.yml                 Core local/source stack
|-- docker-compose.ghcr.yml            Prebuilt-image installation stack
|-- docker-compose.production.yml      Production hardening overlay
|-- docker-compose.observability.yml   Optional monitoring overlay
|-- install.sh / install.ps1           Linux/macOS and Windows installers
`-- VERSION                            Canonical source version

Main execution paths

Long-lived trading loops belong to the trading worker. Finite, retryable work belongs to Celery. HTTP routes validate and delegate; they must not own trading loops, exchange-specific behavior, or large database workflows.

Where changes belong

The web and mobile repositories publish their own GHCR images. Node.js is only needed when building those clients from source. For deeper ownership rules, read Architecture, Module boundaries, and Process roles.

Documentation

The maintained documentation index is available at docs/README.md.

Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md and DEVELOPMENT.md before opening a pull request. Keep routes thin, preserve API compatibility, place long-running behavior in the correct process, and include focused tests for high-risk changes.

The public roadmap lists active product themes, planning stages, and the process for claiming scoped contributor work.

License and commercial terms

• Backend source code is licensed under Apache License 2.0.
• QuantDinger is a product of Open Byte Inc. The name, logo, product identity, and commercial licensing are managed separately from the code license.
• Web frontend source is published in QuantDinger Frontend under its own source-available license.
• Mobile H5 and native client source is published in QuantDinger Mobile under its own source-available license.
• Trademark, branding, attribution, and watermark use is governed by TRADEMARKS.md. Apache 2.0 does not grant trademark rights.

For commercial licensing, frontend source access, branding authorization, or deployment support:

• Website: quantdinger.com
• Telegram: t.me/worldinbroker
• Email: support@quantdinger.com

Legal notice and compliance

QuantDinger is intended for lawful research, education, and compliant trading only. It must not be used for fraud, market manipulation, sanctions evasion, money laundering, or other illegal activity. Operators are responsible for following the laws, licensing requirements, tax rules, broker or exchange terms, and data regulations that apply in every jurisdiction where they deploy or use the software.

This project does not provide legal, tax, investment, financial, or regulatory advice. Trading, including automated and leveraged trading, can result in the loss of some or all capital. Historical data, backtests, simulated results, AI output, indicators, and strategy examples do not guarantee future performance. Users must independently review strategies, permissions, order limits, and risk controls before enabling live execution.

The software is provided under the terms of the applicable license and is used at the operator's own risk. To the extent permitted by law, project maintainers and contributors disclaim liability for trading losses, data loss, service interruption, third-party failures, security incidents, or regulatory consequences arising from use or misuse of the software.

Community and support

• Website
• Contributing guide
• Public roadmap
• Contributors
• Report bugs or request features
• Email: support@quantdinger.com

Sponsors

QuantDinger's continued development and open-source community are supported by:

We are grateful to Atlas Cloud for supporting AI model inference and to Amazon Web Services for supporting the cloud infrastructure that helps QuantDinger serve its community.

Acknowledgements

QuantDinger stands on top of a strong open-source ecosystem. Special thanks to the maintainers and contributors of projects including:

• Flask
• Gunicorn
• Celery
• PostgreSQL
• Redis
• Pandas
• NumPy
• yfinance
• AkShare
• Vue.js
• Ant Design Vue
• KLineCharts
• ECharts
• Capacitor
• bip-utils
• Prometheus
• Grafana

P.S. — A note on the name

QuantDinger is a small tribute to Erwin Schrödinger — the “-dinger” in our name is the tail of “Schrödinger”. The cat in the box was a thought experiment; every un-fired strategy is its own little version of it — simultaneously winning and losing until the order actually fills. Backtests open the box. Live trading collapses the wavefunction. Trade carefully.

_{If QuantDinger is useful to you, a GitHub star helps the project a lot.}