Study Helper

A web application that helps students study by turning their notes into a structured study guide. Paste or upload your course notes and Study Helper uses Azure OpenAI to generate a summary, key concepts, and practice questions.

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Features

• Paste notes directly into the text area or upload a file
• Supported file formats: .pdf, .docx, .doc, .pptx, .ppt, .txt (max 40 MB)
• Uploaded files are stored in Azure Blob Storage and extracted using Azure Document Intelligence
• Azure OpenAI (GPT-4o mini) generates a summary, keywords, and practice questions
• Results displayed in a clean three-card layout
• All API keys and secrets are server-side only — never exposed to the browser

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Architecture

React Frontend (port 3000)
        |
        | POST /api/upload  (file upload)
        | POST /api/generate  (notes + blob reference)
        v
Express Backend (port 5000)
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        |-- Azure Blob Storage      (stores uploaded files)
        |-- Azure Document Intelligence  (extracts text from files)
        |-- Azure OpenAI / AI Foundry   (generates study guide)

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Azure Services Used

Service	Purpose
Azure App Service	Hosts the Express backend
Azure Blob Storage	Stores uploaded documents
Azure Document Intelligence	Extracts text from PDFs and Office files
Azure OpenAI (AI Foundry)	Generates summary, keywords, and practice questions

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Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in the values below. Never commit .env to the repository.

Variable	Description
SERVER_PORT	Port the backend runs on (default 5000)
AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING	Connection string from your Azure Storage account
AZURE_STORAGE_CONTAINER_NAME	Blob container name (default documents)
AZURE_DOCUMENT_INTELLIGENCE_ENDPOINT	Endpoint from your Document Intelligence resource
AZURE_DOCUMENT_INTELLIGENCE_KEY	Key from your Document Intelligence resource
AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT	Must end in /openai/v1
AZURE_OPENAI_KEY	Key from your Azure AI Foundry project
AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT	Deployment name (e.g. gpt-4o-mini)
AZURE_OPENAI_API_VERSION	Use the literal word preview for the v1 endpoint

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Running Locally

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or higher
• An Azure account with the services above provisioned (see docs/AZURE_SETUP.md)

Setup

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone <your-repo-url>
cd studyHelperProject

# 2. Install frontend dependencies
npm install

# 3. Install backend dependencies
cd server
npm install
cd ..

# 4. Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Open .env and fill in your Azure keys

Start the app

Two terminals are required:

# Terminal 1 — backend
cd server
npm run dev
# Runs at http://localhost:5000

# Terminal 2 — frontend
npm start
# Runs at http://localhost:3000

Confirm the backend is running by visiting http://localhost:5000/api/health — it should return {"status":"ok"}.

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Known Limitations

• The app is English-only. Notes written in other languages may produce lower quality results.
• Very long documents are truncated at 30,000 characters before being sent to the AI to stay within token limits.
• The AI output is not guaranteed to be accurate. It should be reviewed against the original notes before use.
• Uploaded files are stored in Blob Storage but there is currently no way to delete them from the UI.
• No user authentication — anyone with the URL can use the app.

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Responsible AI Review

Study Helper uses Azure OpenAI (GPT-4o mini) to read a student's notes and generate a summary, key terms, and practice questions.

Fairness The AI may produce better results for notes written in clear, formal English. Notes written informally, in point form, or with heavy technical shorthand may result in a weaker summary. Students whose first language is not English may find that the AI misses nuance or rephrases things inaccurately.

Reliability and Safety The AI can make mistakes. It may summarize something incorrectly, miss a key concept, or generate a practice question that does not match the material. The output should always be treated as a starting point, not a final answer.

Privacy and Security Note text is sent to Azure OpenAI for processing. Uploaded files are stored temporarily in Azure Blob Storage. All API keys are stored as environment variables on the server and are never exposed to the browser or committed to the repository.

Inclusiveness The app works in any modern browser and on mobile. It supports common file formats including PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and plain text. It is currently English-only, which is a known limitation.

Transparency All output is clearly labeled as AI-generated. Users see exactly what the AI produced — a summary, key terms, and practice questions — so they can judge the quality themselves.

Accountability The student is always responsible for their own studying and learning. Study Helper is a tool to help organize notes, not to replace understanding. No academic submission or decision should be based solely on the output of this tool.

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Project Structure

studyHelperProject/
├── public/                  # Static assets
├── src/
│   ├── components/          # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── Keywords.jsx
│   │   ├── NoteInput.jsx
│   │   ├── Questions.jsx
│   │   └── Results.jsx
│   ├── pages/
│   │   └── Home.jsx         # Main page — manages state and API calls
│   └── App.js
├── server/
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── generate.js      # POST /api/generate
│   │   └── upload.js        # POST /api/upload
│   ├── services/
│   │   ├── ai.js            # Azure OpenAI integration
│   │   ├── blob.js          # Azure Blob Storage
│   │   └── extract.js       # Azure Document Intelligence
│   └── index.js             # Express server entry point
├── docs/
│   └── AZURE_SETUP.md       # Step-by-step Azure provisioning guide
├── .env.example             # Environment variable template
└── README.md