Attendify

Attendify is a production-ready, full-stack, hardware-integrated attendance tracking system. It bridges the gap between physical IoT hardware and modern web technologies to deliver an instantaneous, real-time smart attendance experience.

Live Implementation: Attendify is actively deployed and running in a real-world educational institution, handling daily influxes of student attendances seamlessly, ensuring reliability, security, and performance at scale.

🚀 Features & Architecture

High-Performance Web Platform

• Modern Stack: Built on Next.js 16 (App Router) with TypeScript, powered by Turbopack for blazing fast compilation.
• Interactive UI/UX: Stunning user interfaces crafted with Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion for micro-animations, and Radix UI primitives for accessibility.
• 3D Experiences: Integrates Three.js via React Three Fiber (@react-three/fiber, @react-three/drei) for engaging, dynamic 3D elements in the frontend.
• Database Architecture: Robust data modeling with Mongoose (MongoDB) handling thousands of attendance logs, securely mapping students, RFID tags, and holiday schedules.

Advanced IoT Integration

• Custom Hardware Firmware: Written in C++ for NodeMCU ESP8266 (rfid/rfid.ino).
• Real-Time Processing: Incorporates RC522 RFID Scanners, TM1637 Displays, and I2C LCDs to give immediate tactile and visual feedback on the device.
• Smart Debouncing & Offline Resilience: Edge-level handling of duplicate card taps and Wi-Fi disconnect fallbacks, preventing server flooding.

Enterprise-Grade Backend Logic

• Timezone-Aware Computations: Built-in logic for IST calculations to detect late arrivals, second Saturdays, Sundays, and dynamic holidays without heavy server load.
• Security & Cryptography: Custom x-api-key validation for hardware endpoints, paired with bcryptjs and jose (JWTs) for secure user sessions.
• Push Notifications: Automated Web Push Notifications (web-push) and Email alerts (nodemailer) dispatched immediately upon attendance marking.

🛠️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• MongoDB instance (Local or Atlas)
• NodeMCU ESP8266 + RC522 Module (for hardware setup)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Pranabsssssss/Attendify.git
   cd Attendify

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Configure Environment Variables: Create a .env.local file in the root directory and add the required variables:

   MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
   ATTENDANCE_SECURE_KEY=your_hardware_api_secret
   LATE_TIME=08:00:00

4. Run the Development Server:

   npm run dev

   Navigate to http://localhost:3000 to view the application.

Hardware Setup

Flash the firmware located in rfid/rfid.ino to your NodeMCU using the Arduino IDE. Ensure you update the Wi-Fi credentials and apiUrl to point to your live or local server.

📈 Scalability & Impact

Attendify was built with scalability in mind. Its decoupled architecture ensures that the lightweight Next.js backend can process high-frequency concurrent requests from multiple RFID nodes effortlessly. It represents a complete end-to-end engineering solution—from soldering hardware and writing C++ firmware to deploying an optimized serverless web application.

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Developed by Pranab Saini