PolyBuys

A marketplace for verified Cal Poly students to buy and sell their belongings, tickets, textbooks, and more. Provides a secure, student-only platform to connect Cal Poly students with one another.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React Native (Expo) - Cross-platform mobile app
• Backend: Convex (self-hosted on Railway) - Serverless backend with real-time sync
• Language: TypeScript - Type-safe development
• Monorepo: npm workspaces - Shared types and utilities
• Code Quality: ESLint, Prettier, Husky pre-commit hooks

Repository Structure

PolyBuys/
├── frontend/          # Expo React Native mobile app
├── backend/           # Convex serverless functions
├── packages/shared/   # Shared TypeScript types and utilities
├── docs/              # Documentation and ADRs
├── scripts/           # Build and tooling scripts
└── .github/           # Issue/PR templates

Where to Look

• Quick start & daily commands: QUICK_START.md
• Contribution process and workflow: docs/contributing.md
• Self-hosted Convex setup: docs/SELF_HOSTED_CONVEX.md
• Schema migration guide: docs/SCHEMA_MIGRATION.md
• Backend specifics: backend/convex/README.md
• Issue/PR templates: .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE and .github/pull_request_template.md
• Architecture decisions: docs/adr/

Team

• Evan Taylor - Project Manager
• Jaydon Chen - Tech Lead
• Saman Sepehr - Tech Lead
• Chanelle Friend - Designer
• Taye Staats - Developer
• Matthew Phan - Developer
• Cole Hackman - Developer
• Lorinc Heutchy - Developer
• Haixin Huang - Developer
• Domenic Federico - Developer

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm 9+
• Expo Go app (for mobile testing)
• Git

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone git@github.com:codebox-calpoly/PolyBuys.git
cd PolyBuys

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start the Convex backend (in one terminal)
npm run dev:backend

# Start the Expo app (in another terminal)
npm run dev

Platform-Specific Development

Mac Users (with Xcode installed):

npm run dev
# Press 'i' for iOS Simulator

Windows/Linux Users:

# Option 1: Android Emulator (requires Android Studio)
npm run dev
# Press 'a' for Android

# Option 2: Web Browser (easiest, no setup needed)
npm run dev
# Press 'w' for web browser

Testing on Physical Devices:

• Android: Connect via USB with developer mode enabled, run npm run android
• iOS: Requires Mac with Xcode
• Note: Expo Go app requires SDK 52 - if you have SDK 54+ installed, use web or emulator instead

For detailed setup instructions, see Contributing Guide.

📱 Development

• Linting: npm run lint
• Formatting: npm run format
• Type checking: npm run typecheck
• Run frontend: npm run dev:frontend
• Run backend: npm run dev:backend

Sentry Privacy Defaults

• Client crash reporting uses Sentry with sendDefaultPii disabled by default.
• To explicitly allow default PII fields, set EXPO_PUBLIC_ENABLE_SENTRY_PII=true in frontend env config.

App Review OTP (Optional)

• To enable a fixed Apple App Review login code, configure:
  • Backend: AUTH_APP_REVIEW_EMAIL, AUTH_APP_REVIEW_CODE (must be 8 digits)
  • Frontend: EXPO_PUBLIC_APP_REVIEW_EMAIL (same email value)

Pre-commit hooks automatically format and lint your code before each commit.

Contributing

We follow a structured git workflow with Linear issue tracking. See CONTRIBUTING.md for:

• Development workflow
• Branch naming conventions
• Commit message standards
• PR process
• Code review guidelines

License

See LICENSE for details.

Documentation

• Contributing Guide - How to contribute
• Architecture Decisions - ADRs for major technical decisions