TravelAI — AI-Powered Smart Travel Platform

A full-stack travel planning platform with AI itinerary generation, hotel booking, interactive maps, and real-time collaborative trip planning.

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
Backend	Node.js, Express, TypeScript
Database	MongoDB (Mongoose)
Cache	Redis
AI	OpenAI GPT-4o
Maps	Google Maps JavaScript API
Realtime	Socket.io
Auth	JWT (jsonwebtoken + bcryptjs)
Payments	Stripe (ready to integrate)
Images	Cloudinary

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Project Structure

travel-platform/
├── client/                     # Next.js frontend
│   └── src/
│       ├── app/
│       │   ├── page.tsx        # Landing page
│       │   ├── layout.tsx      # Root layout + Navbar
│       │   ├── providers.tsx   # React Query + Auth context
│       │   ├── globals.css
│       │   ├── auth/
│       │   │   ├── login/page.tsx
│       │   │   └── register/page.tsx
│       │   ├── dashboard/page.tsx
│       │   ├── plan/page.tsx           ← Main AI planner
│       │   ├── trip/[id]/page.tsx
│       │   ├── hotels/page.tsx
│       │   └── admin/page.tsx
│       ├── components/
│       │   ├── layout/Navbar.tsx
│       │   ├── trip/
│       │   │   ├── ItineraryView.tsx
│       │   │   └── ChatBot.tsx
│       │   ├── hotel/HotelCard.tsx
│       │   └── map/TripMap.tsx
│       └── lib/api.ts          # Axios instance + interceptors
│
└── server/                     # Express backend
    └── src/
        ├── index.ts            # App entry point
        ├── config/
        │   ├── db.ts           # MongoDB connection
        │   ├── env.ts          # Environment variables
        │   └── socket.ts       # Socket.io setup
        ├── models/
        │   ├── User.ts
        │   ├── Trip.ts
        │   ├── Hotel.ts
        │   ├── Booking.ts
        │   ├── Review.ts
        │   └── Expense.ts
        ├── controllers/
        │   ├── auth.controller.ts
        │   ├── ai.controller.ts       ← GPT-4o integration
        │   ├── trip.controller.ts
        │   ├── hotel.controller.ts
        │   └── admin.controller.ts
        ├── routes/
        │   ├── auth.ts
        │   ├── ai.ts
        │   ├── trips.ts
        │   ├── hotels.ts
        │   ├── reviews.ts
        │   ├── expenses.ts
        │   └── admin.ts
        ├── middleware/
        │   ├── auth.ts         # JWT protect + adminOnly
        │   └── error.ts        # Global error handler
        └── utils/
            └── weather.ts      # OpenWeatherMap helper

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Setup

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• MongoDB (local or Atlas)
• Redis (local or Upstash)

2. Clone and install

git clone <your-repo>
cd travel-platform

# Install server dependencies
cd server && npm install

# Install client dependencies
cd ../client && npm install

3. Environment variables

Server — copy server/.env.example to server/.env and fill in:

MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/travel-platform
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
JWT_SECRET=your_secret_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
GOOGLE_MAPS_KEY=AIza...
WEATHER_API_KEY=...
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:3000

Client — copy client/.env.local.example to client/.env.local:

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5000
NEXT_PUBLIC_MAPS_KEY=AIza...

4. Run locally

# Terminal 1 — Backend
cd server && npm run dev

# Terminal 2 — Frontend
cd client && npm run dev

Visit http://localhost:3000

5. Docker (optional)

docker-compose up

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API Endpoints

Auth

Method	Path	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	Register new user
POST	/api/auth/login	Login
GET	/api/auth/me	Get current user

AI

Method	Path	Description
POST	/api/ai/plan-trip	Generate AI itinerary
POST	/api/ai/chat	Streaming chatbot
POST	/api/ai/optimize-budget	Budget optimizer

Trips

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/trips/my	Get user's trips
GET	/api/trips/public	Browse public trips
GET	/api/trips/:id	Get single trip
PUT	/api/trips/:id	Update trip
DELETE	/api/trips/:id	Delete trip
POST	/api/trips/:id/collaborators	Invite collaborator

Hotels

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/hotels	List + filter hotels
GET	/api/hotels/:id	Get hotel + reviews
POST	/api/hotels	Create hotel (admin)
PUT	/api/hotels/:id	Update hotel (admin)

Admin (admin role required)

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/admin/stats	KPIs + analytics
GET	/api/admin/users	User list

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Build Order (Recommended)

1. MongoDB + Express boilerplate + auth routes
2. Next.js frontend: login/register working
3. AI trip planner endpoint + plan page UI ← first live demo
4. Hotel model + seeding script + hotel listing page
5. Google Maps integration
6. Booking flow + Stripe
7. Reviews + recommendations
8. Admin dashboard
9. Socket.io collaborative planning
10. Weather integration + expense tracker

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Key Design Decisions

• JWT in localStorage — simple for development; move to httpOnly cookies for production
• Streaming chatbot — uses SSE (Server-Sent Events) instead of WebSocket for one-way streaming
• MongoDB for everything — flexible schema suits AI-generated itinerary shapes
• Redis — used for rate limiting AI routes (protect OpenAI spend)
• GPT-4o with response_format: json_object — guarantees structured JSON back from the AI

Travel-Platform

Travel-Platform

Travel-Planner