FAQ Software

Overview

This repository contains a full-stack FAQ and forum platform for a student cohort. The app is built with:

• Frontend: React + Vite + Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Express.js + MongoDB + Socket.IO + node-cron
• Authentication: JWT-based student sessions and admin login
• Search: client-side FAQ search with highlighted matches
• Forum workflow: query submission, answer review, and admin moderation

The project is split into:

• Frontend/ — public FAQ, student forum, admin dashboard UI
• Backend/ — API server, database models, auth, admin tooling, cron jobs

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Key Features

Public FAQ

• Searchable FAQ page at /faq
• Live query matching across question, answer, and category text
• Highlighted search terms in results
• Categorized FAQ listing with accordion view
• Helpful count and peer footnote display for approved community notes

Cohort Forum

• Secure student forum at /forum
• Student login and session management using JWT in httpOnly cookies
• Discussion tabs for Samvaad, raising queries, and solving queries
• Password reset flow for first-time or expired student sessions
• Inactivity warning and automatic logout after inactivity

Admin Dashboard

• Separate admin portal at /admin
• Admin login with email/password
• Query detail review, answer approval, rejection, and promotion to FAQ
• Trusted student answer review and override options
• File screenshot preview support inside admin review

Backend Services

• Express API routes for FAQs, auth, queries, categories, uploads, and notifications
• MongoDB models for FAQ, User, Query, Category, and more
• Rate limiting, CORS, Helmet security headers, and no-cache API policy
• Cookie-backed JWT refresh on each authenticated request
• Daily cron digest email generation and hourly cache cleanup

Additional Functionality

• Category-based FAQ organization and content sorting
• Query and answer flagging support in the backend workflow
• Admin queue and query status tracker in the dashboard
• File upload endpoint for screenshot attachments
• Daily backend cron tasks for maintenance and digest generation

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Repository Structure

FAQ_SOFTWARE/
├── Frontend/                # React app and UI code
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/      # UI components and forum widgets
│   │   ├── lib/             # axios instances and socket helpers
│   │   ├── pages/           # React route pages
│   │   └── store/           # auth and application state
│   └── package.json
├── Backend/                 # Express API server and services
│   ├── middleware/          # auth guards and socket auth
│   ├── models/              # Mongoose schema definitions
│   ├── routes/              # API route handlers
│   ├── scripts/             # seed and setup helpers
│   ├── services/            # email, similarity, cron, and backend utilities
│   └── server.js            # server bootstrap
├── package.json             # root workspace config
└── README.md

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ / 20+
• npm 10+
• MongoDB Atlas or local MongoDB
• A web browser for the frontend

Backend Setup

1. Open a terminal in Backend/

2. Install dependencies:

   cd Backend
   npm install

3. Create a .env file in Backend/ with values for:

   • MONGODB_URI
   • CLIENT_URL
   • JWT_STUDENT_SECRET
   • JWT_ADMIN_SECRET
   • BASE_URL
   • JWT_INACTIVITY_MINUTES (optional, default: 10)

4. Seed initial data (optional):

   npm run seed
   npm run seed:admin
   npm run seed:categories

5. Start the backend server:

   npm run dev

Frontend Setup

1. Open a terminal in Frontend/
2. Install dependencies:

   cd Frontend
   npm install

3. Start the frontend development server:

   npm run dev

4. Open the app in the browser at the URL shown by Vite (typically http://localhost:5173).

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Available Scripts

Frontend

• npm run dev — start Vite development server
• npm run build — build production assets
• npm run preview — preview production build locally
• npm run lint — run ESLint

Backend

• npm run dev — start Express server
• npm run start — start production server
• npm run seed — seed FAQ data
• npm run seed:admin — seed admin user data
• npm run seed:categories — seed category data

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Environment Variables

Backend .env

Required variables:

• MONGODB_URI — MongoDB connection string
• CLIENT_URL — allowed frontend origin
• JWT_STUDENT_SECRET — student auth JWT secret
• JWT_ADMIN_SECRET — admin auth JWT secret
• BASE_URL — public backend base URL
• JWT_INACTIVITY_MINUTES — session expiration window (default 10)

Frontend

The frontend uses Vite and expects the API base URL to match the backend origin.

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Notes

• The frontend app includes a public FAQ page and a protected forum page.
• Student authentication is managed via secure cookies and JWT session refresh.
• Admin users have a dedicated dashboard separate from student flows.
• The backend enforces rate limits, CORS, and no-cache headers on API endpoints.
• Cron jobs handle background tasks such as digest emails and cache cleanup.

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Contribution

1. Fork the repo or clone it locally.
2. Install dependencies in both Frontend/ and Backend/.
3. Follow the feature implementation order in the project spec when adding new functionality.
4. Keep frontend components reusable and backend routes thin.

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License

This repository is currently private and intended for the cohort FAQ and forum project.