Project Nexus

A full-stack project command center to track software ideas from planning to deployment.

Project Nexus helps you manage projects with timeline context, progress tracking, kanban workflow, documentation uploads, and owner/admin access control in one clean dashboard.

Highlights

• Authenticated project workspace (register, login, profile, password update)
• Grid + kanban project views with live filtering/search
• Project metadata tracking (status, priority, progress, deadlines, tasks)
• Document uploads per project (up to 5 files/request, 4MB each)
• Access-sharing model (owner/admin/write + shared read-only access)
• Built-in support message flow between users and admin

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React 19, Vite
• Backend: Node.js, Express 5
• Database: PostgreSQL (pg)
• Auth: Cookie-based session auth (cookie-session)
• Deployment: Vercel (frontend + serverless API)

Project Structure

src/                 # React app (UI, components, API clients)
server/              # Express app, routes, DB, migrations, seed
api/[...all].js      # Vercel serverless entry for API
uploads/             # Uploaded project docs (local runtime storage)
DEPLOYMENT.md        # Deployment steps for Vercel + Neon

Getting Started (Local)

1) Install dependencies

npm install

2) Create environment file

Copy .env.example to .env, then update values for your local machine:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:your_password@localhost:5432/project_nexus
PORT=3001
POSTGRES_SSL=false
FRONTEND_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173
SESSION_SECRET=replace_with_a_long_random_secret

Notes:

• AUTH_USER_ID and AUTH_PASSWORD are only needed for legacy migration workflows and are not required for normal app login.
• No default credentials are required in README setup. Create your account from the app UI after startup.

3) Prepare database

npm run db:schema
npm run db:migrate:access

Optional sample data:

npm run db:seed

4) Run frontend + backend

npm run dev:all

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173
• API: http://localhost:3001

5) Create first account

Open the app and register a new user from the authentication screen.

Deployment

For Vercel + Neon deployment, follow:

• DEPLOYMENT.md

Required production environment variables:

• DATABASE_URL
• POSTGRES_SSL=true
• SESSION_SECRET
• FRONTEND_ORIGIN

API Overview

Base API path: /api

• GET /api/health — health check
• POST /api/auth/register / POST /api/auth/login / POST /api/auth/logout
• GET /api/auth/me / PUT /api/auth/profile / PUT /api/auth/password
• GET|POST|PUT|DELETE /api/projects
• POST /api/projects/:id/access / DELETE /api/projects/:id/access/:sharedUserId
• POST /api/projects/:id/docs / DELETE /api/projects/:id/docs/:docId
• GET|POST /api/support/tickets

Security Notes

• Session auth uses HTTP-only cookies.
• Use a strong SESSION_SECRET in all environments.
• In production, set strict CORS via FRONTEND_ORIGIN.
• Do not commit .env or real credentials.