Job Application Tracker

A lightweight Kanban-style job application tracker built with Next.js and MongoDB. It provides boards, columns, drag-and-drop job application cards, and user authentication.

Features

• User sign-up / sign-in (email & password)
• Per-user default board initialization
• Kanban board with drag-and-drop columns and cards
• Create and manage job applications (title, company, notes, status)
• Seed script to populate sample job applications

Tech Stack

• Next.js (App Router)
• React 19
• Tailwind CSS
• MongoDB + Mongoose
• better-auth for authentication
• @dnd-kit for drag-and-drop UI

Getting Started

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18+ and a package manager (npm, pnpm, or yarn)
• A MongoDB connection URI

Install dependencies:

npm install

Run the development server:

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Available npm scripts (from package.json):

• dev - run Next.js in development mode
• build - build for production
• start - run built app
• lint - run ESLint
• seed:jobs - seed sample job applications (tsx --env-file=.env.local script/seed.ts)

Environment Variables

Create a .env.local file at the project root with the variables below (example values omitted):

• MONGODB_URI — MongoDB connection string used by lib/db.ts
• NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL — public base URL used by auth trusted origins (e.g. http://localhost:3000)
• NEXTAUTH_URL — optional NextAuth URL (used by some auth flows)
• VERCEL_URL — optional when deploying to Vercel (used for trusted origins)

The project will throw an error if MONGODB_URI is not set when trying to connect.

Database & Auth Notes

• Database connection logic lives in lib/db.ts and uses mongoose.
• Authentication is implemented with better-auth and the MongoDB adapter in lib/auth.
• When a new user is created the code initializes a default board for them via lib/init-user-board.ts.

Seeding Sample Data

To seed sample job applications (reads .env.local), run:

npm run seed:jobs

Project Structure (high-level)

• app/ — Next.js app routes and pages
• components/ — shared React components (boards, cards, dialogs)
• lib/ — utilities, DB connection, auth, actions
• public/ — static assets
• script/seed.ts — seed script for demo data

Development Tips

• Edit the UI in components/ and page layouts in app/.
• The kanban interactions use @dnd-kit and client components — check components/kanban-board.tsx and components/kanban-board-client.tsx.
• Use the seed:jobs script to generate test data for a fresh database.

Deployment

This project is ready to deploy to Vercel. Ensure the environment variables above are set in your deployment settings.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Open issues or PRs for bug fixes and improvements. Keep changes focused and run linting before submitting.

License

This repository has no license specified. Add a LICENSE file if you want to choose one.

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If you'd like, I can also add a minimal .env.local.example template or update package.json scripts. Which would you prefer next? This is a Next.js project bootstrapped with create-next-app.

Getting Started

First, run the development server:

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev
# or
pnpm dev
# or
bun dev

Open http://localhost:3000 with your browser to see the result.

You can start editing the page by modifying app/page.tsx. The page auto-updates as you edit the file.

This project uses next/font to automatically optimize and load Geist, a new font family for Vercel.

Learn More

To learn more about Next.js, take a look at the following resources:

• Next.js Documentation - learn about Next.js features and API.
• Learn Next.js - an interactive Next.js tutorial.

You can check out the Next.js GitHub repository - your feedback and contributions are welcome!

Deploy on Vercel

The easiest way to deploy your Next.js app is to use the Vercel Platform from the creators of Next.js.

Check out our Next.js deployment documentation for more details.