DevCollab

Internal team tool for profiles, chat, and task tracking with contribution tracking. Built as a team learning project practicing real GitHub workflows.

---

Overview

DevCollab is an internal team collaboration platform designed to streamline team workflows. It provides user profiles, real-time chat, task management, and contribution tracking—all built as a learning project to practice modern GitHub workflows and best practices.

This project is structured as a monorepo with a Next.js frontend and Node/Express backend, demonstrating scalable architecture patterns for internal tools.

Features

• User Profiles — Manage team member profiles with roles and permissions
• Real-time Chat — Team communication with message history
• Task Tracking — Create, assign, and track tasks with status updates
• Contribution Tracking — Monitor team contributions and activity
• Modern Stack — Built with Next.js, Express, TypeScript, and PostgreSQL
• Monorepo Structure — Clean separation of frontend, backend, and shared code
• CI/CD Ready — GitHub Actions for automated testing and deployment

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 14+, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
Backend	Node.js, Express, TypeScript
Database	PostgreSQL
Authentication	JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
Package Manager	npm workspaces
CI/CD	GitHub Actions

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ (recommended: use nvm)
• npm 9+
• PostgreSQL database
• Git

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/Lodenix/devcollab.git
   cd devcollab

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables

   # Backend API
   cp apps/api/.env.example apps/api/.env
   # Edit apps/api/.env with your database credentials and JWT secret

4. Start development servers

   # From root - starts both web and api
   npm run dev
   
   # Or start individually
   npm run dev --workspace=apps/web
   npm run dev --workspace=apps/api

5. Open in browser

   • Frontend: http://localhost:3000
   • API Health: http://localhost:4000/health

Project Structure

devcollab/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/              # Next.js frontend application
│   │   ├── src/          # Application source code
│   │   ├── public/       # Static assets
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── api/              # Express backend API
│       ├── src/
│       │   ├── routes/   # API route definitions
│       │   ├── controllers/  # Request handlers
│       │   ├── middleware/   # Authentication & validation
│       │   └── config/      # Configuration files
│       └── package.json
├── packages/
│   └── shared/           # Shared types and utilities
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/        # CI/CD pipelines
├── docs/                 # Project documentation
├── package.json          # Root package.json with workspaces
└── README.md

Development

Available Scripts

Command	Description
npm run dev	Start all development servers
npm run dev --workspace=apps/web	Start frontend only
npm run dev --workspace=apps/api	Start backend only
npm run build	Build all applications
npm run lint	Lint all codebases
npm run test	Run test suites

Branch Workflow

1. main — Production-ready code (protected, default branch)
2. dev — Development branch (integration branch)
3. Feature branches — Create from dev for new features

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request targeting main

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/health	Health check endpoint
POST	/api/auth/login	User authentication
POST	/api/auth/register	User registration
GET	/api/users	List all users
GET	/api/tasks	List all tasks
POST	/api/tasks	Create a new task

Environment Variables

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/devcollab

# Authentication
JWT_SECRET=your-secret-key-here
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d

# Server
PORT=4000
NODE_ENV=development

# Frontend
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:4000

Roadmap

• User authentication and authorization
• Real-time chat with WebSockets
• Task management with drag-and-drop
• File sharing and attachments
• Activity dashboard and analytics
• Mobile responsive design
• Dark mode support
• Notification system

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

For support, email husseinyahaya640@gmail.com or open an issue on GitHub.

---

Built with ❤️ by the Lodenix Team