Face Recognition App

A full-stack face recognition project with:

• Backend: Node.js, Express, PostgreSQL, Sequelize
• Frontend: React, Vite, React Router
• Face detection: Face++ API integration

Repository layout

• client/ — React frontend app
• face_api/ — Express backend API
• database/ — PostgreSQL Docker compose and initialization scripts

How It Works

User Flow

1. Registration/Sign-in: Users create accounts or sign in via the React frontend
2. Face Detection: Authenticated users submit image URLs for face detection
3. API Processing: Backend calls Face++ API to detect faces and attributes
4. Results Display: Frontend displays bounding boxes and face attributes
5. Entry Tracking: User entry counts are updated and stored in PostgreSQL

Architecture

• Frontend: React SPA with routing, hooks, and context for state management
• Backend: REST API with user authentication and face detection endpoints
• Database: PostgreSQL with Sequelize ORM for data persistence
• External API: Face++ for computer vision face detection

Quick start

1. Start the database:

   cd database
   docker compose up -d

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Start backend only:

   npm run server

4. Start frontend only:

   npm run client

5. Start both frontend and backend together:

   npm run dev

Root package scripts

• npm run install-client — install frontend dependencies
• npm run install-server — install backend dependencies
• npm run install — install both frontend and backend
• npm run server — start backend in watch mode
• npm run client — start frontend in dev mode
• npm run dev — start both backend and frontend in parallel

Notes

• Backend API is expected at http://localhost:3000
• Frontend Vite server usually runs on http://localhost:5173
• Frontend config is stored in client/.env

Useful files

• client/README.md — frontend app documentation
• client/PROJECT_STRUCTURE.md — frontend directory and architecture guide
• client/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md — frontend developer reference
• database/README.md — database setup guide
• face_api/README.md — backend API documentation
• database/docker-compose.yml — database service definition
• face_api/src/config/database.js — backend DB connection
• face_api/src/routes/ — backend API route definitions