Prerequisites & Setup

Before you run KillrVideo locally, you need a few things installed and a free Astra DB account. This page walks you through getting everything in place.

What You Need

Python 3.11 or later

KillrVideo uses Python features from 3.11. Check your version:

python3 --version

If you need to install or upgrade Python, use python.org or your system package manager.

Poetry

Poetry manages Python dependencies and virtual environments. Install it with:

curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 -

Verify with poetry --version. See the Poetry documentation for alternative installation methods.

Git

You will need Git to clone the repository. Verify with git --version. Install from git-scm.com if needed.

Create a DataStax Astra DB Account

KillrVideo uses Astra DB as its database. Astra DB is a cloud-managed Cassandra service with a free tier that is sufficient for running KillrVideo and experimenting with all its features.

  1. Go to astra.datastax.com and sign up for a free account.
  2. Once logged in, click Create Database.
  3. Choose Serverless (Vector) as the database type — this supports both standard Cassandra tables and vector search.
  4. Give your database a name (e.g., killrvideo) and choose a cloud provider and region close to you.
  5. Wait for the database status to show Active (usually under a minute).

Get Your Astra Credentials

KillrVideo needs three pieces of information from Astra DB:

Application Token

In your Astra dashboard, navigate to your database and click Generate Token. Choose the Database Administrator role. Copy the token — it starts with AstraCS:. You will only see the full token once, so store it somewhere safe.

API Endpoint

On the database overview page, find the API Endpoint field. It looks like:

https://<database-id>-<region>.apps.astra.datastax.com

Copy this URL.

Keyspace Name

A keyspace is Cassandra's namespace for tables. When you created your database, Astra created a default keyspace with the same name as your database. You can find the keyspace name on the database overview page under the Keyspace section. You can also create a new keyspace if you prefer.

About the Python Backend

KillrVideo 2025 is documented and referenced through the Python (FastAPI) implementation. The API contract — endpoints, request shapes, response shapes — is the same regardless of implementation language. If a KillrVideo implementation exists in another language, it will expose the same REST API described in these docs.

The Python repository is: github.com/KillrVideo/kv-be-python-fastapi-dataapi-table

Once you have your Astra credentials and the prerequisites installed, move on to Run the Application to clone the repo and get it running.