diff --git a/mini_novoStoic.py b/mini_novoStoic.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8e9163
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mini_novoStoic.py
@@ -0,0 +1,326 @@
+import pandas as pd
+import pulp
+import pdb
+import os
+import json
+from rdkit import Chem
+
+# pulp_solver = pulp.solvers.CPLEX_CMD(path=None, keepFiles=0, mip=1, msg=1,
+#      options=['mip tolerances mipgap 0', 'mip tolerances absmipgap 0',
+#       'mip tolerances integrality 0', 'simplex tolerances optimality 1E-9',
+#       'simplex tolerances feasibility 1E-9',], timelimit=1200)
+
+def count_substructures(radius,molecule):
+    """Helper function for get the information of molecular signature of a
+    metabolite. The relaxed signature requires the number of each substructure
+    to construct a matrix for each molecule.
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    radius : int
+        the radius is bond-distance that defines how many neighbor atoms should
+        be considered in a reaction center.
+    molecule : Molecule
+        a molecule object create by RDkit (e.g. Chem.MolFromInchi(inchi_code)
+        or Chem.MolToSmiles(smiles_code))
+    Returns
+    -------
+    dict
+        dictionary of molecular signature for a molecule,
+        {smiles: molecular_signature}
+    """
+    m = molecule
+    smi_count = dict()
+    atomList = [atom for atom in m.GetAtoms()]
+
+    for i in range(len(atomList)):
+        env = Chem.FindAtomEnvironmentOfRadiusN(m,radius,i)
+        atoms=set()
+        for bidx in env:
+            atoms.add(m.GetBondWithIdx(bidx).GetBeginAtomIdx())
+            atoms.add(m.GetBondWithIdx(bidx).GetEndAtomIdx())
+
+        # only one atom is in this environment, such as O in H2O
+        if len(atoms) == 0:
+            atoms = {i}
+
+        smi = Chem.MolFragmentToSmiles(m,atomsToUse=list(atoms),
+                                    bondsToUse=env,canonical=True)
+
+        if smi in smi_count:
+            smi_count[smi] = smi_count[smi] + 1
+        else:
+            smi_count[smi] = 1
+    return smi_count
+
+def novoStoic_minFlux_relaxedRule(exchange_mets, novel_mets,project,iterations,pulp_solver,use_direction):
+    """apply reaction rules generated from a more relaxed manner to search for
+    reaction rules that are able to fill the gap between the source and sink
+    metabolites.
+    - rePrime procedure is more similar to a morgan fingerprints
+    - the relaxed rule is generated from substructures without considering the
+      bond that connect the atoms at the edge of the substructure to the rest
+      of the molecules
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    exchange_mets : dict
+        overall stoichiometry of source and sink metabolites, {met: stoic,...}
+        This is a important input for novoStoic to run correctly because the
+        method requires that overall moieties are balanced.
+    novel_mets : list
+        list of novel metabolites that are not in the database (novoStoic/data/
+        metanetx_universal_model_kegg_metacyc_rhea_seed_reactome.json)
+    filtered_rules : list
+        list of rules that are filtered by the user (based on expert knowldedge)
+        to reduce the running time of the novoStoic search process
+    project : string
+        a path to store the tmp information of result from running novoStoic
+    iterations : int
+        the number of iterations of searching for alternative solutions
+    data_dir : type
+        Description of parameter `data_dir`.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    None
+        all the outputs are saved in the project folder.
+
+    """
+    if not os.path.exists(project):
+        os.makedirs(project)
+
+    # the maximum flux of a reaction
+    M = 2
+
+    data_dir = './data'
+
+    # read csv files with molecular signatures and reaction rules
+    molecular_signature = json.load(open(
+        os.path.join(data_dir, 'decompose_vector_ac.json')))
+    molsigs = pd.DataFrame.from_dict(molecular_signature).fillna(0)
+
+    rules = pd.read_csv(
+        os.path.join(data_dir, "relaxed_rule_noduplic.csv"), index_col=0
+    )
+
+    ###### sets ############
+    moiety_index = rules.index.tolist()  # moiety sets
+    rules_index = rules.columns.values.tolist()
+    print("Number of rules used in this search:",len(rules_index))
+
+    exchange_index = exchange_mets.keys()
+
+    ###### parameters ######
+    # T(m,r) contains atom stoichiometry for each rule
+    T = rules.to_dict(orient="index")
+
+    # C(m,i) contains moiety cardinality for each metabolite
+    C = molsigs.to_dict(orient="index")
+    for m in moiety_index:
+        C[m]["C00080"] = 0
+        C[m]["C00282"] = 0
+
+    # add metabolites that are not present in current database
+    for met in novel_mets:
+        # molsigs_product = pd.read_csv(
+        #     project + "/relaxed_molsig_" + met + "_1.csv", index_col=0
+        # )
+        # molsigs_product_dict = molsigs_product.to_dict(orient="index")
+        smiles = novel_mets[met]
+        mol = Chem.MolFromSmiles(smiles)
+        mol = Chem.RemoveHs(mol)
+        molsigs_product_dict = count_substructures(1,mol)
+
+        for m in moiety_index:
+            if m in molsigs_product_dict.keys():
+                C[m][met] = molsigs_product_dict[m]
+            else:
+                C[m][met] = 0
+
+    ###### variables ######
+    v_rule = pulp.LpVariable.dicts(
+        "v_rule", rules_index, lowBound=-M, upBound=M, cat="Integer"
+    )
+    v_rule_obj = pulp.LpVariable.dicts(
+        "v_rule_obj", rules_index, lowBound=0, upBound=M, cat="Continuous"
+    )
+
+    v_EX = pulp.LpVariable.dicts(
+        "v_EX", exchange_index, lowBound=-M, upBound=M, cat="Continuous"
+    )
+    y_rule = pulp.LpVariable.dicts(
+        "y", rules_index, lowBound=0, upBound=1, cat="Binary"
+    )
+
+    # create MILP problem
+    lp_prob = pulp.LpProblem("novoStoic", pulp.LpMinimize)
+
+    ####### objective function ####
+    lp_prob += pulp.lpSum([v_rule_obj[j] for j in rules_index])
+
+    ####### constraints ####
+    # constraint 1: moiety change balance
+    for m in moiety_index:
+        lp_prob += (
+            pulp.lpSum([T[m][r] * v_rule[r] for r in rules_index if T[m][r] !=0])
+            == pulp.lpSum([C[m][i] * v_EX[i] for i in exchange_index if C[m][i] != 0]),
+            "moiety_balance_" + str(moiety_index.index(m)),
+        )
+
+    # constraint 2: constraint for exchange reactions
+    for i, stoic in exchange_mets.items():
+        lp_prob += v_EX[i] == stoic, "exchange" + i
+
+    # constraint 3: control the number of rules
+
+    direction_df = pd.read_csv(
+        os.path.join(data_dir, "direction.csv"), index_col=0
+    )
+    direction_df.index = direction_df['reaction']
+
+    # direction: 0-reversible, 1-backward, 2-forward
+    direction = direction_df['direction'].to_dict()
+
+    if use_direction:
+        soln_file = os.path.join(project, "solution_use_direction.txt")
+        for j in rules_index:
+            if direction[j] == 0:
+                lp_prob += v_rule[j] >= y_rule[j] * -M, "cons1_%s" % j
+                lp_prob += v_rule[j] <= y_rule[j] * M, "cons2_%s" % j
+            if direction[j] == 1:
+                lp_prob += v_rule[j] >= y_rule[j] * -M, "cons1_%s" % j
+                lp_prob += v_rule[j] <= 0, "cons2_%s" % j
+            if direction[j] == 2:
+                lp_prob += v_rule[j] >= 0, "cons1_%s" % j
+                lp_prob += v_rule[j] <= y_rule[j] * M, "cons2_%s" % j
+    else:
+        soln_file = os.path.join(project, "solution_no_direction.txt")
+        for j in rules_index:
+            lp_prob += v_rule[j] >= y_rule[j] * -M, "cons1_%s" % j
+            lp_prob += v_rule[j] <= y_rule[j] * M, "cons2_%s" % j
+    
+    for j in rules_index:
+        lp_prob += v_rule_obj[j] >= v_rule[j]
+        lp_prob += v_rule_obj[j] >= -v_rule[j]
+    
+    # constraint 5: customized constraints
+    # the number of steps of the pathway
+    lp_prob += pulp.lpSum([v_rule_obj[j] for j in rules_index]) == 2
+
+    ### solve
+    integer_cuts(lp_prob,pulp_solver,iterations,rules_index,y_rule,v_rule,soln_file,direction)
+
+def integer_cuts(lp_prob,pulp_solver,iterations,rules_index,y_rule,v_rule,soln_file,direction):
+    """add integer cut constraints to a mixed-integer linear programming problem
+    (MILP). The aim of such constraints is to find alternative solutions by
+    adding constraints to exclude the already explored solutions.
+
+    Reference: Optimization Methods in Metabolic Networks By Costas D. Maranas,
+    Ali R. Zomorrodi, Chapter 4.2.2 Finding alternative optimal integer
+    solutions
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    type
+        Description of returned object.
+
+    """
+    for sol_num in range(1, iterations + 1):
+        integer_cut_rules = []
+
+        # optinal output: lp file for debug
+        lp_prob.writeLP('./test.lp')
+        # if pulp_solver = "SCIP":
+        # status, values = pulp_solver.solve(lp_prob)
+        lp_prob.solve(pulp_solver)
+        # pulp_solver.solve(lp_prob)
+
+        print("Status:", pulp.LpStatus[lp_prob.status])
+
+        if pulp.LpStatus[lp_prob.status] != 'Optimal':
+            break
+
+        print('-----------rules--------------')
+        with open(soln_file,'a') as f:
+            f.write('iteration,' + str(sol_num))
+            f.write('\n')
+
+        for r in rules_index:
+            if (v_rule[r].varValue >= 0.1 or v_rule[r].varValue <=-0.1):
+
+                dG_info = ''
+                if (v_rule[r].varValue > 0 and direction[r] == 1) or (v_rule[r].varValue < 0 and direction[r] == 2):
+                    # print("##### Found ####: " + str(r))
+                    # with open(soln_file,'a') as f:
+                    #     f.write('##### Found ####: ' + str(r))
+                    #     f.write('\n')
+                    dG_info = ' * Thermodynamically infeasible'
+                    print("##### Found ####: " + str(r) + dG_info)
+                integer_cut_rules.append(r)
+                print(r,v_rule[r].varValue)
+
+                with open(soln_file,'a') as f:
+                    f.write(r + ',' + str(v_rule[r].varValue) + dG_info)
+                    f.write('\n')
+
+        length = len(integer_cut_rules) - 1
+        lp_prob += (
+            pulp.lpSum([y_rule[r] for r in integer_cut_rules]) <= length,
+            "integer_cut_" + str(sol_num),
+        )
+
+
+def test_bdo():
+    exchange_mets = {
+    'C00091': -1, # Succinyl-CoA
+    'C00004': -4, # NADH
+    'C00003': 4, # NAD+
+    'C00010': 1, # coa
+    'C00001':1, # h2O
+    '14bdo': 1,
+    }
+    novel_mets = {
+    '14bdo': 'OCCCCO'
+    }
+
+    iterations = 50
+    project = './novoStoic_result'
+
+#     path_to_cplex = '/Users/linuswang/Applications/IBM/ILOG/CPLEX_Studio1261/cplex/bin/x86-64_osx/cplex'
+#     pulp_solver = pulp.CPLEX_CMD(path=path_to_cplex,keepFiles=0, mip=1, msg=1)
+
+    pulp_solver = pulp.CPLEX_CMD(path=None,keepFiles=0, mip=1, msg=1)
+    # pulp_solver = pulp.solvers.GUROBI_CMD()
+    # pulp_solver = pulp.solvers.GLPK_CMD()
+    use_direction=True
+    novoStoic_minFlux_relaxedRule(exchange_mets, novel_mets,project,iterations,pulp_solver,use_direction)
+    use_direction=False
+    novoStoic_minFlux_relaxedRule(exchange_mets, novel_mets,project,iterations,pulp_solver,use_direction)
+
+
+def test_isovalarate():
+    exchange_mets = {
+        'C00141': -1, # 2-keto isovalarate
+        'C00004': -1, # NADH
+        'C00003': 1, # NAD+
+        "C14710": 1, # isobutanol C4H10O
+        'C00011': 1, # co2
+    }
+    novel_mets = {}
+
+    iterations = 50
+    project = './novoStoic_isovalarate'
+
+#     path_to_cplex = '/Users/linuswang/Applications/IBM/ILOG/CPLEX_Studio1261/cplex/bin/x86-64_osx/cplex'
+#     pulp_solver = pulp.CPLEX_CMD(path=path_to_cplex,keepFiles=0, mip=1, msg=1)
+
+    pulp_solver = pulp.CPLEX_CMD(path=None,keepFiles=0, mip=1, msg=1)
+    # pulp_solver = pulp.solvers.GUROBI_CMD()
+    # pulp_solver = pulp.GLPK_CMD()
+    # use_direction=True
+    # novoStoic_minFlux_relaxedRule(exchange_mets, novel_mets,project,iterations,pulp_solver,use_direction)
+    use_direction=False
+    novoStoic_minFlux_relaxedRule(exchange_mets, novel_mets,project,iterations,pulp_solver,use_direction)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    test_isovalarate()