🚀 Bolster — Crowdfunding Platform for Creators

Bolster is a modern crowdfunding platform that enables creators to receive direct financial support from their audience without platform restrictions or high commission cuts.

⚠️ This project is currently under development.

---

🌟 Features

• 🔐 Authentication using Google & GitHub (NextAuth)
• 👤 Creator profiles with:
  • Profile picture & banner
  • Social links
  • Document uploads (resume/portfolio)
• 💳 Razorpay payment integration
• 📊 Dashboard with:
  • Live supporters feed
  • Payment history
  • Contribution stats
• 📁 Cloudinary integration for file uploads
• 🔄 Username sync across payments & profile
• ⚡ Toast notifications for payments
• 📱 Fully responsive UI

---

🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• Next.js (App Router)
• React
• Tailwind CSS
• Lottie Animations

Backend

• Next.js Server Actions & API Routes
• MongoDB + Mongoose

Authentication

• NextAuth (Google + GitHub OAuth)

Payments

• Razorpay

Storage

• Cloudinary (cloud)
• MongoDB (database)
• server storage (static data storage)

---

📂 Project Structure

/app
  /api
  /components
  /dashboard
  /profile

/models
  User.js
  Payment.js

/DB
  connectDB.js

/actions
  useractions.js

---

⚙️ Environment Variables

Create a .env.local file and add:

MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection

GITHUB_ID=your_github_id
GITHUB_SECRET=your_github_secret

GOOGLE_ID=your_google_id
GOOGLE_SECRET=your_google_secret

RAZORPAY_ID=your_razorpay_id
RAZORPAY_SECRET=your_razorpay_secret

NEXT_PUBLIC_RAZORPAY_ID=your_public_key

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret

---

🧠 How It Works

💳 Payment Flow

1. User enters amount & details
2. Razorpay order is created via server action
3. Payment is stored as pending in database
4. On success → updated and displayed in dashboard

👤 User System

• Users are created on first login via OAuth
• Profiles include social links, media, and payment credentials

🗄️ Database Handling

• MongoDB connection is cached globally to avoid multiple connections
• Ensures stability in Next.js environment

📁 File Upload System

• Cloudinary used for storing images and documents
• Old files are automatically deleted before new uploads

---

▶️ Getting Started

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/your-username/bolster.git
cd bolster

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Setup environment variables

Create .env.local and add required keys

4. Run the development server

npm run dev

App will run at:
http://localhost:3000

---

🚧 Future Improvements

• 🔔 Real-time notifications
• 💬 Comments / supporter interaction
• 📈 Creator analytics dashboard
• 🌍 Public explore page
• 🛡️ Improved validation & security

---

👨‍💻 Author

Shubham Rana
GitHub: https://github.com/Shubham-Rana-cse
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shubham-rana45/