📦 AidTrack

A transparent, scalable relief distribution and inventory management system.

🌍 Live Demo

Experience the live application here: https://aidtrack-sage.vercel.app/ (Backend API hosted on https://aidtrack.onrender.com)

Note: The live demo uses a shared database for demonstration purposes. Please do not enter sensitive or real personal information.

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About the Project

AidTrack is a full-stack MERN application built to solve the logistical challenges of disaster relief. It allows organizations to securely manage dynamic stock inventory, register affected families (beneficiaries), and keep an immutable, trackable history of every item distributed.

Key Features

• Custom JWT Authentication: Robust, token-based security protecting sensitive API routes.
• Role-Based Access Control: Differentiated dashboard views and permissions for Admins and Volunteers.
• Smart Inventory Tracking: Complete CRUD capabilities for stock. Distributions intelligently deduct from inventory, and edits/deletions automatically restock items.
• Beneficiary Registry: A searchable, filterable database to track family IDs, locations, and demographics.
• CSV Exportting: One-click data exports for transparent donor reporting and offline auditing.
• Server-Side Pagination: Highly optimized data fetching for lightning-fast performance even with thousands of records.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React.js, Tailwind CSS, Axios, React Router Dom
• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB Atlas, Mongoose
• Security: JSON Web Tokens (JWT), bcryptjs

Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/aidtrack.git
cd aidtrack

2. Backend Setup

cd aidtrack-backend
npm install

Create a .env file in the aidtrack-backend folder and add:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
JWT_SECRET=your_super_secret_key

Start the backend server:

node server.js

3. Frontend Setup

Open a new terminal window:

cd aidtrack_frontend
npm install

Start the frontend development server:

npm start

By default, the frontend runs on http://localhost:3000 and the backend on http://localhost:5000.

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Security & Using as a Template

Your uploaded codebase is completely secure. Because your live database credentials (MONGO_URI) and JWT_SECRET are stored in a .env file that is ignored by Git, no one downloading this repository can access your production MongoDB Atlas database.

Want to use this for your own organization? This project is built to be a template. If you clone or download this repository, you must connect it to your own database:

1. Create a cluster on MongoDB Atlas or you can also use your local MongoDB compass.
2. Get your own connection string.
3. In the aidtrack-backend folder, copy the aidtrack-backend/.env.example file and rename it to .env.
4. Paste your connection string into the MONGO_URI field and make up a long, random string for the JWT_SECRET.
5. Admin Access Security: This app restricts Admin account creation to prevent unauthorized personnel from gaining admin rights. You must create a secret passcode and assign it to ADMIN_INVITE_CODE in your .env file. You will share this secret code only with authorized team admins so they can select "Administrator" during signup.
6. Update API URLs: Before deploying your own version to production (e.g., Vercel/Render ( which I did on ...)):
   • In aidtrack_frontend/src/api.js, change the baseURL to point to your new live backend URL.
   • If you restrict CORS in aidtrack-backend/server.js, ensure you add your new frontend URL to the allowed origins array.

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Developed with ❤️ for efficient and transparent humanitarian aid.