SubIdea - Project Setup Documentation

For: MCA Students and Developers
Created: January 2025
Status: Phase 0 - Setup Complete ✅

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📋 Project Overview

Name: SubIdea
Description: AI-Powered Problem Discovery & Project Generator Platform
Purpose: Help students and developers find validated project ideas from real Reddit discussions

Tech Stack Decision

Component	Technology	Why?
Frontend	Next.js 14 + TypeScript	Modern React framework, great for SEO, student-friendly
Backend	Node.js + Express	JavaScript everywhere, huge community support
Database	PostgreSQL (Supabase)	Free tier, built-in auth, pgvector support
AI	Google Gemini Pro	You have subscription, $0 cost
Embeddings	OpenAI text-embedding-3-small	Cheap (~$0.50/month), reliable
Caching	Redis (Upstash)	Free tier, job queue support
Auth	GitHub OAuth (NextAuth.js)	No password management needed

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🎯 Project Goals

Primary Goals

1. ✅ Learn modern full-stack development
2. ✅ Build portfolio-worthy project
3. ✅ Integrate AI APIs (Gemini)
4. ✅ Practice database design
5. ✅ Deploy real application

Learning Outcomes

• Modern web development (React, Next.js, TypeScript)
• Backend API design (Express, REST)
• Database design (PostgreSQL, migrations)
• AI integration (Gemini API, embeddings)
• Authentication (OAuth 2.0)
• Background jobs (Bull queue)
• Deployment (Vercel, Railway)

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📂 Project Structure

• frontend/ – Next.js application
• backend/ – Express API
• database/ – SQL migrations & seeds
• docs/ – Documentation & wireframes
• scripts/ – Utility scripts
• .env.master – All API keys (DO NOT COMMIT)

All secrets stored in .env.master (excluded from Git).

Required API Keys

1. ✅ Supabase Database URL
2. ✅ Google Gemini API Key
3. ✅ OpenAI API Key (embeddings)
4. ✅ Reddit API Credentials
5. ✅ GitHub OAuth App
6. ✅ Upstash Redis URL

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🗄️ Database Schema

Tables

1. users - User accounts (GitHub OAuth)
2. reddit_posts - Raw scraped posts
3. problems - Analyzed problems with AI scores
4. projects - Generated project specifications
5. user_bookmarks - Saved projects with progress
6. problem_analytics - Trending data over time

Special Features

• pgvector: Enables AI similarity search
• Full-text search: Fast keyword search
• Triggers: Auto-update timestamps

See database/migrations/001_initial_schema.sql for complete schema.

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🎨 Design (Wireframes)

Wireframes created in Excalidraw:

• Homepage: docs/wireframes/homepage.png
• Problems List: docs/wireframes/problems-list.png
• Problem Detail: docs/wireframes/problem-detail.png
• Project View: docs/wireframes/project-view.png
• User Dashboard: docs/wireframes/user-dashboard.png

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🌐 API Endpoints

Complete API documentation: docs/API_ENDPOINTS.md

Main Endpoints

• GET /api/problems - Browse problems
• POST /api/projects/generate - Generate project with AI
• POST /api/bookmarks - Save project
• GET /api/user/profile - User profile

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📊 Development Timeline

Phase 0: Setup (Week 1) ✅

• Environment setup
• Database design
• Wireframes created
• API endpoints defined
• Project structure organized

Phase 1: Backend (Weeks 2-3)

• Reddit scraper
• AI analysis with Gemini
• Database integration
• REST API implementation

Phase 2: Frontend (Weeks 4-5)

• Next.js setup
• UI components
• Problem browsing
• Project generation UI

Phase 3: User Features (Week 6)

• Authentication
• Bookmarks
• User dashboard

Phase 4: Polish & Deploy (Week 7-8)

• Testing
• Performance optimization
• Deployment

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🚀 Next Steps (Phase 1)

1. Initialize Next.js project
2. Initialize Express project
3. Setup TypeScript configuration
4. Configure linters (ESLint, Prettier)
5. First commit to GitHub

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📚 Resources

Learning Resources

• Next.js Docs: https://nextjs.org/docs
• TypeScript Handbook: https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/
• PostgreSQL Tutorial: https://www.postgresqltutorial.com/
• Gemini API Docs: https://ai.google.dev/docs

Tools

• Supabase Dashboard: https://app.supabase.com/
• Upstash Console: https://console.upstash.com/
• GitHub Repository: [Your Repo URL]

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⚠️ Important Notes

1. Never commit .env files to Git
2. Always test locally before pushing to production
3. Keep API keys secret - don't share screenshots with keys
4. Monitor API costs - check usage daily (first month)
5. Backup database - export data weekly

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🐛 Known Issues / Limitations

None yet - this is Phase 0!

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👥 Team

• Developer: Sunny Kr Singh
• Purpose: MCA Project / Portfolio
• Contact:

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📝 License

MIT License - Open source, free to use

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Last Updated: [Current Date]
Phase: 0 - Setup Complete ✅