IIT Ropar FAQ + Student Community Support Platform

A modern, high-fidelity AI-powered FAQ and peer community support platform prototype designed for the IIT Ropar internship, selection, and academics student ecosystem.

This project is built using the MERN Stack (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js) with JWT authentication and a local retrieval-based FAQ assistant.

---

🚀 Quick Start Instructions

Follow these steps to launch the local prototype:

Step 1: Database Setup

1. Ensure your MongoDB server is active.
2. Create backend/.env from backend/.env.example, or keep a .env file in the repository root for local development.
3. Set MONGODB_URI and replace JWT_SECRET with a long random secret. For Atlas, use a URI such as mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<cluster>.mongodb.net/iit_ropar_faq?retryWrites=true&w=majority.

Step 2: Launch Backend

Open a terminal inside the root folder and run:

cd backend
npm run dev

For local development, demo login accounts and FAQ content are prepared by default. Set ENABLE_DEMO_SEED=false or ENABLE_FAQ_SEED=false to disable either behavior. Set both to false in production unless running a deliberate one-time content import.

Step 3: Launch Frontend

Open a new terminal inside the root folder and run:

cd frontend
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173 in your browser. The development server binds to localhost by default and proxies API requests to the backend PORT from the root .env. Set VITE_API_PROXY_TARGET only when the backend uses a different address; set VITE_DEV_HOST=0.0.0.0 only when you intentionally need LAN testing.

---

Production Deployment

1. Install dependencies with npm ci inside backend and frontend.
2. Build the frontend with npm run build inside frontend.
3. Configure backend/.env with NODE_ENV=production, a production MONGODB_URI, a random JWT_SECRET of at least 32 characters, and the deployed frontend origin in CORS_ORIGINS.
4. Keep ENABLE_DEMO_SEED=false, ENABLE_FAQ_SEED=false, and VITE_ENABLE_DEMO_LOGIN=false for a live deployment.
5. Start the server with npm start inside backend. In production it serves the compiled frontend from frontend/dist.

The health check is available at /api/health. To deploy the frontend separately, build with VITE_API_URL=https://your-api-host/api.

---

Demo Login Credentials

These accounts are prepared in local development unless ENABLE_DEMO_SEED=false; their quick-fill buttons are hidden from production builds by default. For testing the role-based routing and features, you can use the Quick Prefill buttons on the Login screen, or manually type these credentials:

Account Type	Email	Password	Username	Key Features to Test
👩‍🎓 Student (Champion)	priya@iitr.ac.in	student123	Priya_Sharma	Level 5 (Champion), 410 SP points, badges catalog.
👨‍🎓 Student (Novice)	sanjay@iitr.ac.in	student123	Sanjay_Kumar	Level 3 (Rising Star), 240 SP.
👮‍♂️ Staff (Admin)	admin@iitr.ac.in	admin123	Admin_Ropar	Answer verification, pinning, duplicate FAQ merging, toxic moderation queues.

---

🌟 Core Workflows & AI Mechanics

1. AI Duplicate Detection (Instant Title Checking)

• How to test: Log in as a student, click "Ask Question", and start typing: summer internship portal opening.
• AI Behavior: As you type, the frontend debounces inputs and queries the backend /check-duplicate endpoint. It calculates Term-Frequency (TF) vectors and runs a Cosine Similarity match against existing titles.
• Result: You'll see a yellow popup warning: "Matching Existing FAQ Suggestions" showing the pre-seeded thread with matching percentages (e.g. "95% Match"), prompting you to view it instead of posting a duplicate!

2. Retrieval FAQ Assistant

• How to test: Click the floating bubble in the bottom right corner to open RAG Copilot. Ask a question like: "Where can I find the Bonafide Certificate template?" or "What is the minimum attendance required?".
• AI Behavior: The bot uses spelling correction, topic matching, and ranked FAQ retrieval locally; it does not require paid model tokens.
• Result: It retrieves a compact best answer with its source thread and related suggestions.
• Low Confidence Fallback: It suggests relevant threads and offers Ask the Community. It never posts a public question without the student's explicit action.

3. Minimal Four-Section FAQ Browser

• Getting Started: internship, selection, and announcements.
• Documents & Dates: certificates, deadlines, and payments.
• Learning & Work: attendance, assignments, mentorship, and projects.
• Platform & Help: technical and general support questions.

4. SP Reputation & Gamification System

• How to test: Log in as student Priya, go to the Leaderboard tab. You'll see daily/weekly/monthly filter rankings and interactive Weekly Missions (e.g. "Publish 2 new FAQ threads").
• Actions: Post an answer on a thread. You'll instantly receive a Socket.IO alert toast in the top right: "✨ SP Gained! You received +5 SP points". If you advance over a 100 SP mark, a full-screen Level Up modal will lock the viewport, presenting your new rank.

5. Admin Verification & Duplicate Merge Panel

• How to test: Log in as Admin_Ropar and open the Admin Terminal tab or view thread detail pages.
• Verifications: Go to any student answer, click "Verify". The system attaches the stamp "Verified by IIT Ropar Team", pins the answer to the top, and sends a real-time Socket.IO alert to the student.
• Duplicate Merges: Go to the Admin Terminal. Under "Merge Duplicate FAQs", select a duplicate thread (e.g., a newly posted student question) and a target main thread (e.g., Summer Internship Portal FAQ), and click "Merge Threads".
• Result: The duplicate thread is archived, and all its existing student answers are migrated to the main FAQ thread.

6. Toxicity Moderation Queue

• How to test: Post a question containing flagged terms like cheating, or crap (or typed in ALL CAPS lock).
• Moderation Behavior: The backend moderation middleware automatically flags the post (toxicity > 0.6) and sets its status to flagged.
• Result: It hides the thread from the general student feed. Log in as Admin to see the thread listed in the AI Content Moderation Flags queue, showing its toxicity ratings, where you can choose to "Approve" (publish) or "Delete" (apply -5 SP penalty to the author).

---

📁 Repository Directory Structure

prototype/
├── backend/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── db.js               # MongoDB Mongoose connection configs
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   └── authMiddleware.js   # JWT verification & role validation
│   ├── models/
│   │   └── Schemas.js          # Unified Mongoose models
│   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── auth.js             # User login, registration, Google OAuth mocks
│   │   ├── threads.js          # Upvotes, Me Too, comments, replies routing
│   │   ├── admin.js            # Verification toggles, content moderation queries
│   │   ├── profile.js          # LeetCode statistics calculator
│   │   ├── notifications.js    # Unread notifications managers
│   │   ├── chatbot.js          # RAG Copilot query router
│   │   └── leaderboard.js      # rankings sorting & missions progress
│   ├── services/
│   │   ├── aiService.js        # TF-IDF similarity, toxicity heuristics, RAG
│   │   └── reputation.js       # SP transactions, level progressions, badge triggers
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── server.js               # Entry point with express, Socket.io, & database seeding
│   └── .env                    # PORT, MONGODB_URI, and JWT_SECRET
├── frontend/
│   ├── public/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   │   ├── Sidebar.jsx     # Nav bar with user info
│   │   │   ├── Navbar.jsx      # Header with notifications dropdown & level meters
│   │   │   └── FloatingChatbot.jsx # AI assistant collapsible pane
│   │   ├── context/
│   │   │   └── AppContext.jsx  # Global Zustand-equivalent React Context
│   │   ├── pages/
│   │   │   ├── Login.jsx       # Glassmorphic lockscreen
│   │   │   ├── FAQFeed.jsx     # Board feed with similarity modal popup
│   │   │   ├── ThreadDetail.jsx # Nested comments, answers lists, admin buttons
│   │   │   ├── Profile.jsx     # LeetCode activity grids, course completion widgets
│   │   │   ├── Leaderboard.jsx # Rankings board & missions checklist
│   │   │   └── Dashboard.jsx   # Role dashboards with Recharts diagrams
│   │   ├── utils/
│   │   │   ├── api.js          # Axios client with JWT interceptors
│   │   │   └── socket.js       # Socket.IO client interface
│   │   ├── App.jsx             # App master layout and toaster containers
│   │   ├── index.css           # Styling with rounded scrollbars & glowing borders
│   │   └── main.jsx
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── tailwind.config.js      // Tailwind v3 configurations
│   ├── postcss.config.js
│   ├── vite.config.js
│   └── package.json
└── README.md