🚀 TechConnect

An interactive real-time collaborative coding platform for students to build projects, solve challenges, and grow together.

🚧 Status: Under active development (Building in public)

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📌 Table of Contents

• About the Project
• Key Features
• Tech Stack
• System Architecture
• Getting Started
• Environment Variables
• Running the Project
• Project Structure
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• License

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📖 About the Project

TechConnect is designed to help students collaborate on real-world coding projects through a shared workspace with real-time editing, AI-assisted development, discussions, and coding challenges.

The platform focuses on:

• Practical learning
• Team collaboration
• Networking among aspiring developers

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✨ Key Features

• 👥 Real-time collaborative workspace
• 💻 VS Code–like editor (Monaco Editor)
• 🤖 AI-powered coding assistant
• ▶️ Run code with live terminal output
• 🧠 Version history & rollback
• 💬 Project discussions & community forums
• 🏆 Coding challenges & leaderboards
• 🔐 Secure authentication & role-based access

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• Next.js (App Router)
• React
• Tailwind CSS
• Monaco Editor

Backend

• Next.js API Routes
• Socket.IO (real-time collaboration)

Database

• MongoDB Atlas

AI

• OpenAI API (Copilot-like assistant)

Deployment

• Vercel (frontend)
• Custom Socket.IO server (real-time)

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🧠 System Architecture

Client (Next.js + Monaco) ↓ API Routes (Auth, Projects, AI, Run Code) ↓ MongoDB Atlas ↓ Socket.IO Server (Live collaboration)

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥ 18
• MongoDB Atlas account
• OpenAI API key

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🔐 Environment Variables

Create a .env.local file:

MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_atlas_uri
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_key
NEXT_PUBLIC_SOCKET_URL=http://localhost:5000
▶️ Running the Project
Install dependencies
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npm install
Run development server
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npm run dev
Run Socket server (if separate)
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npm run socket
📂 Project Structure
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techconnect/
│
├── app/                # Next.js app router
│   ├── api/            # API routes
│   ├── workspace/      # Collaborative editor
│
├── components/         # Reusable UI components
├── lib/                # DB, socket, utilities
├── models/             # Mongoose models
├── server/             # Socket.IO server
├── public/             # Static assets
└── README.md
🛣️ Roadmap
 Inline AI code suggestions

 Multi-language code execution

 Advanced challenge evaluation

 Analytics & user insights

 Public project discovery

🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome!

Fork the repository

Create a new branch

Commit your changes

Open a Pull Request

📄 License
This project is licensed under the MIT License.

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### ✅ Why this README is strong
- Recruiter-friendly  
- Open-source ready  
- Clear architecture  
- Scales with your project  
- Looks **professional** on GitHub