DevCircle

Mutual Growth for College Coders

DevCircle is an open-source platform designed to boost coding communities within colleges through fair and active peer-to-peer support. Instead of fighting for visibility on crowded global platforms, DevCircle creates a focused, trust-based space where developers help each other — and grow together.

🔍 Why DevCircle?

New developers often struggle with:

Getting real feedback on projects
Receiving GitHub stars or follows
Finding collaboration partners
Feeling isolated in their coding journey

DevCircle fixes this by letting you:

✅ Request help (code review, bug fix, GitHub star, project collab)
✅ Earn help credits by helping others
✅ Connect only with active users in your college
✅ Build your college's dev culture with no spam, no noise

🎯 Key Features

🔁 Mutual help system (you give, you get)
🧠 Smart matchmaker (active, fair users only)
🎓 Private college instances (self-hosted)
⭐ GitHub integration
⚖️ Karma / Help Score logic
📈 Leaderboard & weekly activity tracker

💡 Vision

Every college can self-host DevCircle to strengthen its local developer community. It's not about building another LinkedIn — it's about building trust, accountability, and support at the grassroots level.

🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend

Node.js + Express - RESTful API
TypeScript - Type-safe development
MongoDB + Mongoose - Database & ODM
JWT - Authentication
GitHub OAuth - User authentication

Frontend

React 19 + TypeScript - UI Framework
React Router - Navigation
Tailwind CSS - Styling
Axios - HTTP client
Context API - State management

DevOps

Docker + Docker Compose - Containerization
Nginx - Reverse proxy for frontend

📦 Project Structure

DevCircle/
├── client/                    # React Frontend
│   ├── public/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/       # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── context/          # React Context (Auth)
│   │   ├── pages/            # Page components
│   │   ├── types/            # TypeScript types
│   │   ├── utils/            # Utility functions
│   │   ├── App.tsx
│   │   └── index.tsx
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── package.json
│   └── tailwind.config.js
│
├── server/                    # Node.js Backend
│   ├── config/               # Configuration files
│   ├── controllers/          # Request handlers
│   ├── interfaces/           # TypeScript interfaces
│   ├── middleware/           # Express middleware
│   ├── models/               # Mongoose models
│   ├── repositories/         # Database operations
│   ├── routes/               # API routes
│   ├── services/             # Business logic
│   ├── utils/                # Utility functions
│   ├── app.ts                # Express app setup
│   ├── server.ts             # Server entry point
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   └── package.json
│
├── docker-compose.yml         # Docker orchestration
├── .env.example              # Environment variables template
└── README.md                 # You are here!

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

Node.js (v18 or higher)
MongoDB (v6 or higher) OR Docker
GitHub OAuth App credentials (Create one here)

Option 1: Local Development (Without Docker)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/DevCircle.git
cd DevCircle

2. Setup Backend

cd server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Copy environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env and fill in your values:
# - MongoDB connection string
# - GitHub OAuth credentials
# - JWT secret
# - College configuration
nano .env  # or use your preferred editor

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

The backend will start at http://localhost:4000

3. Setup Frontend

cd ../client

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Copy environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env with your values:
# - Backend API URL
# - GitHub Client ID
# - College information
nano .env

# Start development server
npm start

The frontend will start at http://localhost:3000

Option 2: Docker Deployment (Recommended for Production)

1. Setup Environment Variables

# Copy the example file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit and fill in your values
nano .env

2. Build and Run with Docker Compose

# Build and start all services (MongoDB, Backend, Frontend)
docker-compose up --build

# Or run in detached mode
docker-compose up -d --build

Access the application at http://localhost

3. Stop Services

docker-compose down

# To remove volumes as well
docker-compose down -v

⚙️ Configuration

Backend Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the server/ directory:

# Server
PORT=4000
NODE_ENV=development

# MongoDB
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/devcircle

# JWT
JWT_SECRET=your_super_secret_jwt_key
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d

# GitHub OAuth
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your_github_client_id
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=your_github_client_secret
GITHUB_CALLBACK_URL=http://localhost:4000/api/auth/github/callback

# Frontend
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:3000

# College
COLLEGE_DOMAIN=@youruniversity.edu
COLLEGE_ID=your_college_slug

Frontend Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the client/ directory:

REACT_APP_API_URL=http://localhost:4000/api
REACT_APP_GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your_github_client_id
REACT_APP_COLLEGE_NAME=Your University
REACT_APP_COLLEGE_ID=your_college_slug

GitHub OAuth Setup

Go to GitHub Developer Settings
Click "New OAuth App"
Fill in:
- Application name: DevCircle - Your College
- Homepage URL: http://localhost:3000 (or your domain)
- Authorization callback URL: http://localhost:4000/api/auth/github/callback
Copy the Client ID and Client Secret to your .env files

📚 API Documentation

Authentication

GET /api/auth/github - Initiate GitHub OAuth
GET /api/auth/github/callback - GitHub OAuth callback
GET /api/auth/verify - Verify JWT token

Users

GET /api/users/me - Get current user
GET /api/users/:id - Get user by ID
PUT /api/users/me - Update current user
GET /api/users/leaderboard?college=xxx - Get leaderboard
GET /api/users/college?college=xxx - Get college users

Requests

GET /api/requests/open - Get open requests
GET /api/requests/:id - Get request by ID
POST /api/requests - Create new request
GET /api/requests/my/requests - Get my requests
GET /api/requests/my/helped - Get requests I'm helping with
POST /api/requests/:id/accept - Accept a request
POST /api/requests/:id/complete - Mark request as complete
POST /api/requests/:id/cancel - Cancel a request

Activities

GET /api/activities/recent - Get recent activities
GET /api/activities/my - Get my activities
GET /api/activities/user/:userId - Get user activities

🐳 Docker Commands

# Build images
docker-compose build

# Start services
docker-compose up

# Start in background
docker-compose up -d

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f

# Stop services
docker-compose down

# Rebuild and restart
docker-compose up --build --force-recreate

# Remove all (including volumes)
docker-compose down -v

🔧 Development

Install Backend Dependencies

cd server
npm install

Install Frontend Dependencies

cd client
npm install

Run Tests

# Backend tests
cd server
npm test

# Frontend tests
cd client
npm test

Build for Production

# Backend
cd server
npm run build

# Frontend
cd client
npm run build

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these steps:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
Open a Pull Request

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🌟 Deployment

Deploy on Railway

Create a new project on Railway
Add MongoDB service
Add server service (connect to GitHub repo, set root directory to server/)
Add client service (connect to GitHub repo, set root directory to client/)
Configure environment variables
Deploy!

Deploy on Vercel (Frontend) + Render (Backend)

Frontend (Vercel):

Import GitHub repo to Vercel
Set root directory to client/
Add environment variables
Deploy

Backend (Render):

Create new Web Service
Connect GitHub repo
Set root directory to server/
Add environment variables
Deploy

💬 Support

For questions, issues, or feature requests:

Open an Issue
Start a Discussion

🎓 Self-Hosting for Your College

Want to set up DevCircle for your college? Here's a quick guide:

Clone and customize - Fork this repo and update branding
Setup GitHub OAuth - Create OAuth app for your domain
Configure college domain - Set your .edu email domain
Deploy - Use Docker Compose or your preferred platform
Invite students - Share with your college dev community!

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with ❤️ for college developers who believe in mutual growth and community support.

Star ⭐ this repository if you find it useful!

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 14 Commits
.vscode		.vscode
client		client
server		server
.DS_Store		.DS_Store
.dockerignore		.dockerignore
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
PROJECT_SUMMARY.md		PROJECT_SUMMARY.md
QUICK_REFERENCE.md		QUICK_REFERENCE.md
README.md		README.md
README_OLD.md		README_OLD.md
SETUP.md		SETUP.md
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
setup.sh		setup.sh

License

Anubhavick/DevCircle

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