TrueStory – Crowdsourced Truth-Focused News Platform

A platform that tracks events (not articles), where every piece of information is a claim with evidence, contributors have reputation scores, and the crowd can fact-check and participate in prediction markets.

Architecture

• Frontend: React (Vite) + TypeScript – event/claim browsing, reputation, fact-checking UI, prediction markets
• Backend: NestJS + TypeScript – REST API, PostgreSQL via TypeORM
• Infra: Docker Compose (PostgreSQL, backend, frontend)

Features

1. Events – Each event (e.g. “Bridge collapse in Lisbon”) has a timeline of reports, eyewitness accounts, media, official statements, and analysis.
2. Claims with evidence – Claims have labels: Unverified → Evidence provided → Multiple confirmations → Confirmed. Each claim can have attached evidence (documents, videos, links).
3. Login – Contributors can sign in with Google or Facebook (OAuth). JWT is issued and used for authenticated requests.
4. Reputation – Contributors get a reliability score that goes up (confirmed reports, correct fact-checks) or down (false claims, repeated corrections).
5. Crowd fact-checking – Users can challenge claims, add counter-evidence, confirm reports, or add context (Community Notes–style, attached to claims).
6. Prediction markets – Users predict the probability that a claim will turn out true; good predictors gain reputation.
7. Create Events – Anyone can propose an event, Event starts as unverified, Event becomes public after community confirmation, High-reputation users and verified reporters can bypass event verification

Quick start

# From project root
docker compose up --build

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173 (Vite proxies /api to the backend)
• Backend API: http://localhost:3000/api (e.g. http://localhost:3000/api/events)

Development without Docker

Backend

cd backend
cp .env.example .env   # set DATABASE_URL if needed
npm install
npm run start:dev

Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Database

Ensure PostgreSQL is running and create a database truestory, or use the one from Docker:

docker compose up postgres -d
# then run backend with DATABASE_URL=postgresql://truestory:truestory_secret@localhost:5432/truestory

Sample data (optional)

With the stack running, you can create an event and a claim via the API:

# Create a user (contributor)
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/users -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"displayName":"Reporter1"}'

# Create an event (use the slug you want)
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/events -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Bridge collapse in Lisbon","slug":"bridge-collapse-lisbon","description":"Ongoing coverage."}'

# Create a claim (replace EVENT_ID and USER_ID with IDs from above)
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/claims -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"eventId":"EVENT_ID","authorId":"USER_ID","content":"Three people were injured in the collapse.","status":"evidence_provided"}'

Then open http://localhost:5173 and you should see the event and its timeline.

Login with Google / Facebook

Contributors can log in via the header buttons. To enable OAuth:

1. Google: Create a project in Google Cloud Console, enable the Google+ API (or Google Identity), create OAuth 2.0 credentials (Web application), and set the authorized redirect URI to http://localhost:3000/api/auth/google/callback (or your backend URL in production).
2. Facebook: Create an app in Facebook for Developers, add Facebook Login, and set the valid OAuth redirect URI to http://localhost:3000/api/auth/facebook/callback.

Set these in the backend environment (e.g. in backend/.env or docker-compose):

• GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET, GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL
• FACEBOOK_APP_ID, FACEBOOK_APP_SECRET, FACEBOOK_CALLBACK_URL
• JWT_SECRET (min 32 chars in production), FRONTEND_URL (where to redirect after login, e.g. http://localhost:5173)

If these are not set, the app still runs; Google/Facebook login will fail until credentials are configured.

Project layout

TrueStory.bro/
├── docker-compose.yml
├── backend/          # NestJS API
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── events/
│   │   ├── claims/
│   │   ├── users/
│   │   ├── auth/        # Google/Facebook OAuth, JWT
│   │   ├── evidence/
│   │   ├── fact-checking/
│   │   └── predictions/
│   └── Dockerfile
└── frontend/         # React (Vite)
    ├── src/
    └── Dockerfile