📌 ThesPro - Thesis & Project Management System (Server)

The robust and scalable backend for the ThesPro platform, built to securely handle complex university thesis workflows, multi-role authentications, and event-driven data distribution.

🚀 Live Links

• Server Live URL: https://thespro-server.vercel.app
• Client Live URL: https://thespro-client.vercel.app

✨ Features

• Secure Authentication: JSON Web Tokens (JWT) combined with Google OAuth2 login flows for robust identity verification.
• RESTful Architecture: Express router handling compartmentalized routes mapping perfectly to entity models.
• Cloud Storage: Native Multer buffers seamlessly integrated with Cloudinary for handling file uploads (e.g. notices, profile pictures).
• Flexible Schema Management: Robust NoSQL structuring using Mongoose for handling entities like Proposals, Defense Boards, Schedules, and Notices.
• Serverless Ready: Configured explicitly to run smoothly within a serverless Edge or Lambda environment like Vercel with cached DB connections.
• Global Error Handling: Clean async-handler wraps to ensure zero unhandled rejections or crashes.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js
• Framework: Express.js & TypeScript
• Database: MongoDB (Mongoose ORM)
• Authentication: JWT & Google Auth Library
• File Handling: Multer & Cloudinary
• Deployment: Vercel

🔐 Environment Variables (.env)

Create a .env file in the root of the server folder with the following variables:

# Database
MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string

# Authentication
JWT_SECRET=your_super_secret_jwt_key

# Frontend Connection
FRONTEND_URL=https://thespro-client.vercel.app

# Cloudinary Setup
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret

# Google OAuth Setup
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_google_id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_google_secret
GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL=your_callback_url_path

📂 Folder Structure

src/
├── controllers/          # Business logic (e.g., authController.js, proposalController.js)
├── middleware/           # Route interceptors (auth check, role verify, upload limits)
├── models/               # Mongoose DB schemas (User, Notice, Proposal, DefenseBoard)
├── routes/               # Express routing logic grouping controller endpoints
├── lib/ & utils/         # Helper functions (DB connectors, environment validators)
├── app.ts                # Express application bootstrapping & global middlwares
└── index.ts              # Entry point 

⚙️ Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone <repository_url>

2. Navigate to the server directory

   cd thespro-server

3. Install dependencies

   npm install

4. Set up .env Copy the example variables from above and supply the corresponding secrets.

5. Run the development server

   npm run dev

📦 Build & Deployment

To compile the TypeScript project:

npm run build

Deployment: The backend is optimized and deployed via Vercel serverless functions. Builds compile to CommonJS/ESM via tsup and are exposed entirely from api/index.js, bypassing typical long-running app.listen() behaviors for serverless scalability.

👨‍💻 Author

Name: Uttam
Role: Full Stack Developer