ZyCode

A real-time competitive coding platform where users compete in timed contests, solve coding problems, and get instant feedback on submissions.

Overview

ZyCode is a monorepo built with Turborepo and Bun. It consists of four applications and shared packages:

blitz/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/       # Next.js frontend
│   ├── backend/   # Express REST API
│   ├── wss/       # WebSocket server
│   └── worker/    # Submission queue worker
└── packages/
    ├── db/        # Prisma client (PostgreSQL)
    ├── ui/        # Shared UI components (shadcn/ui)
    ├── zod/       # Shared Zod schemas
    ├── eslint-config/
    └── typescript-config/

Architecture

Browser (Next.js)
    │
    ├──[HTTP]──▶ backend (Express :3001)
    │               └── auth, contest, submission routes
    │
    ├──[WS]────▶ wss (WebSocket :8080)
    │               └── real-time contest events
    │
    └── submission flow:
            backend → Redis queue → worker → Judge0 → wss → browser

• Submissions are pushed to a Redis list by the backend and polled by the worker.
• The worker runs each submission against test cases via Judge0 and publishes results back through the WebSocket server.
• The WebSocket server broadcasts events (correct answer, contest ended, winner) to all participants in a contest room.

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 16, React 19, Tailwind CSS v4, shadcn/ui, Framer Motion
Backend	Express 5, JWT auth
WebSocket	ws library
Worker	Redis (queue), Judge0 (code execution)
Database	PostgreSQL via Prisma ORM
Monorepo	Turborepo + Bun workspaces
Languages	TypeScript throughout

Prerequisites

• Bun >= 1.3.5
• Node.js >= 18
• PostgreSQL database
• Redis instance
• Judge0 instance (self-hosted or cloud)

Getting Started

1. Clone and install dependencies

git clone https://github.com/vignesh2731/Zycode.git
cd Zycode
bun install

2. Configure environment variables

Create .env files in the relevant apps:

apps/backend/.env

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/zycode
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

apps/worker/.env

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/zycode
JUDGE0_URL=http://localhost:2358

packages/db/.env

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/zycode

3. Set up the database

cd packages/db
bunx prisma migrate dev

4. Run the development servers

From the repo root:

bun run dev

This starts all apps in parallel via Turborepo:

App	URL
Web	http://localhost:3000
Backend	http://localhost:3001
WebSocket	ws://localhost:8080
Worker	(background process)

Supported Languages

Code submissions can be made in:

• C++
• Java
• Python

Features

• User authentication (signup / login with JWT)
• Create and join coding contests
• Real-time updates: correct answers and contest end events are broadcast instantly to all participants
• Automatic winner determination based on number of problems solved
• Monaco editor for code input