Cost Circuit — Energy & Utility Cost Comparison

A full Next.js 16 (TypeScript, App Router) application. No separate backend — all "API" work happens in Next.js Route Handlers (src/app/api/**) talking directly to MongoDB via Mongoose.

What's included (v1 / MVP scope)

Public site

• Home, About, Contact (saves to DB), Privacy Policy, Terms of Service
• Tools: Bill Calculator, Solar ROI Calculator, Fuel Price Tracker, State-wise Comparison
• User auth: Signup -> Email OTP verification -> Login -> Forgot/Reset Password (3-step OTP flow)

Admin panel (/admin/...)

• Admin auth: Signup (requires super-admin approval) -> Email OTP verification -> Login -> Forgot/Reset Password
• Dashboard with live platform stats
• Providers & Rates management (add providers, add/edit/delete embedded rate plans)
• Energy Data management (the dataset that powers the public State Comparison + Fuel Tracker tools)
• Articles (content hub, draft/publish)
• Users (list, block/unblock, delete)
• Subscriptions (read-only view)
• Collapsible sidebar + navbar synced via SidebarContext (same pattern you provided)

Security

• JWT access tokens (15 min) + refresh tokens (30 days), both httpOnly cookies, signed with jose (edge-safe)
• Separate cookie namespaces for users (cc_access / cc_refresh) and admins (cc_admin_access / cc_admin_refresh)
• Passwords hashed with bcrypt (12 rounds)
• middleware.ts protects all /admin/* routes except the admin auth pages
• Admin signup requires super-admin approved: true before login works (mirrors your original design)

Data

• MongoDB via Mongoose, models: User, Admin, Provider (with embedded rates[]), Article, Subscription, Energy (the previously-empty model — now the core dataset behind the comparison tools), ContactMessage
• All content is dynamic, read from/written to the live database — nothing is hardcoded

Getting started locally

npm install
cp .env.example .env.local   # already pre-filled with your Mongo URI + generated secrets — just review it
npm run dev

Visit http://localhost:3000

Seed a super admin + sample data

The admin signup flow requires super-admin approval, so you need at least one approved admin to bootstrap the system. Run:

node --env-file=.env.local scripts/seed.mjs

This creates:

• A super admin: admin@costcircuit.io / ChangeMe123! (override via SEED_ADMIN_EMAIL / SEED_ADMIN_PASSWORD in .env.local) — change this password after first login
• Sample Energy price records (electricity/gas/petrol/diesel across a few states) so the tools aren't empty
• One sample Provider with two rate plans

Log in at /admin/login with the seeded credentials. There's no "approve admin" UI yet (see Not yet built below) — approve further admin signups by setting approved: true on their document directly in MongoDB, or by extending the seed script.

Environment variables

See .env.example. Required: MONGODB_URI, JWT_ACCESS_SECRET, JWT_REFRESH_SECRET. Everything else (SendGrid, Cloudinary, cron secret) is optional — if SENDGRID_API_KEY is unset, OTP emails are printed to the server console instead of sent, so you can still test the full signup/verification flow locally without an email provider.

Deployment — Netlify

1. Push this project to a GitHub repo.
2. In Netlify: Add new site -> Import an existing project, pick the repo. netlify.toml already configures @netlify/plugin-nextjs, so build settings are automatic.
3. In Site settings -> Environment variables, add everything from .env.example (MONGODB_URI, JWT_ACCESS_SECRET, JWT_REFRESH_SECRET, and optionally the SendGrid/Cloudinary/cron ones). Use different/longer secrets than the dev ones in .env.local.
4. Important — MongoDB Atlas network access: Netlify serverless functions don't have static outbound IPs on the free tier. In Atlas -> Network Access, add 0.0.0.0/0 (allow from anywhere) or Netlify won't be able to connect to your cluster.
5. Deploy. After the first deploy, run the seed script once against your production database (from your machine, pointing MONGODB_URI at the same Atlas cluster) to create your production super admin.

If Netlify's Next.js runtime ever gives you trouble with a particular route (rare, but can happen with edge cases in newer Next.js versions), this project also deploys cleanly to Vercel with zero config changes as a fallback — just import the repo there instead.

Scheduled price updates (optional)

POST /api/cron/update-energy with header x-cron-secret: <CRON_SECRET> nudges every Energy record's price by a small random amount and updates its 24h change indicator, simulating live market movement. Wire this up to any external scheduler (Netlify Scheduled Functions, GitHub Actions cron, cron-job.org, etc.) if you want the ticker to move on its own between manual admin updates — entirely optional, since admins can also just edit prices directly in /admin/rates.

Project structure notes

• src/app/(public)/... — public site, wrapped in (public)/layout.tsx (Navbar/Footer/FAB)
• src/app/admin/(auth)/... — admin login/signup/verify/forgot pages, no sidebar chrome
• src/app/admin/(protected)/... — admin dashboard & CRUD pages, wrapped in AdminShell (sidebar + navbar), guarded server-side in (protected)/layout.tsx and by middleware.ts
• src/models/ — Mongoose schemas (intentionally trimmed down from the very large reference schemas you shared, to what's actually needed for this MVP's features — they can be extended field-by-field later without breaking anything)
• src/lib/auth.ts — JWT signing/verification + cookie helpers (uses jose, so it works in both middleware/edge and normal API routes)
• src/lib/db.ts — cached Mongoose connection (serverless-safe)

Not yet built (flagged honestly, not hidden)

Given the "ship fast" priority, these were intentionally left out of v1:

• An "approve pending admins" UI (currently done by hand in MongoDB / via seed script)
• Rich text editor for articles (content is a plain textarea for now)
• Image upload wiring to Cloudinary (the middleware you provided is not yet called from any route)
• Stripe/payment processing for subscriptions (the Subscription model exists but nothing creates real paid subscriptions yet)
• A user-facing account/dashboard page (login works and issues a session, but there's no /account page yet to view saved items — easy to add on top of the existing auth)

None of these block deployment or the core "compare energy costs" experience — they're natural next additions whenever you're ready.