PeerPrep - Collaborative Coding Platform

PeerPrep is a real-time collaborative coding platform that pairs users to solve coding interview problems together. The system features peer matching, real-time code collaboration, AI-powered assistance, and code execution capabilities.

Architecture

PeerPrep follows a microservices architecture with the following components. Links to all the currently deployed services are provided.

Backend Services

• User Service: Authentication, user management, and difficulty tracking
• Question Service: Question bank management with admin CRUD operations
• Matching Service: Peer matching algorithm using Redis queues
• Collaboration Service: Real-time collaboration via WebSocket, code execution, and AI assistance

Frontend Applications

• Login/Signup UI: User authentication and dashboard
• Matching UI: Topic selection and matching interface
• Collaboration UI: Real-time code editor with collaboration features

Infrastructure

• PostgreSQL (Supabase): User data and question bank storage
• Redis: Matching queues, session state, and temporary data

Prerequisites

Before running the project locally, ensure you have:

• Node.js v18 or higher
• npm or yarn
• Redis (can run via Docker or locally)
• PostgreSQL (via Supabase cloud or local instance)
• Docker (optional, for containerized setup)

Local Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd cs3219-ay2526s1-project-g25
git checkout github-actions

2. Install Dependencies

Install dependencies for all services and frontend applications:

# Backend services
cd user-service/user-service && npm install && cd ../..
cd question-service/question-service && npm install && cd ../..
cd matching-service/matching-service && npm install && cd ../..
cd collaboration-service/collaboration-service && npm install && cd ../..

# Frontend applications
cd feature-login-signup-ui/frontend && npm install && cd ../..
cd feature-matching-ui/frontend && npm install && cd ../..
cd feature-collaboration-ui/frontend/peerprep-collab && npm install && cd ../../..

3. Environment Configuration

Create .env files for each service by copying the env.example files:

# User Service
cp user-service/user-service/env.example user-service/user-service/.env

# Question Service
cp question-service/question-service/env.example question-service/question-service/.env

# Matching Service
cp matching-service/matching-service/env.example matching-service/matching-service/.env

# Collaboration Service
cp collaboration-service/collaboration-service/env.example collaboration-service/collaboration-service/.env

# Frontend applications
cp feature-login-signup-ui/frontend/env.example feature-login-signup-ui/frontend/.env
cp feature-matching-ui/frontend/env.example feature-matching-ui/frontend/.env
cp feature-collaboration-ui/frontend/peerprep-collab/env.example feature-collaboration-ui/frontend/peerprep-collab/.env

Important: Fill in all environment variables according to the env.example files. You'll need:

• Supabase credentials (URL and service role key)
• JWT secrets (must be identical across all services)
• Redis connection URL
• External API keys (Google AI, RapidAPI for Judge0, Cloudinary)
• Service URLs for inter-service communication

4. Start Infrastructure Services

Option A: Using Docker (Recommended)

# Start Redis
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:latest

Option B: Local Redis Installation

Ensure Redis is running on localhost:6379

5. Database Setup

The services use Supabase PostgreSQL. Ensure your Supabase database is set up with the required tables:

• User Service: Run migrations from user-service/user-service/migrations/init.sql
• Question Service: Run schema from question-service/question-service/db/init.sql

Running the Application

Start Backend Services

Open separate terminal windows for each service:

# Terminal 1: User Service
cd user-service/user-service
npm run dev

# Terminal 2: Question Service
cd question-service/question-service
npm run dev

# Terminal 3: Matching Service
cd matching-service/matching-service
npm run dev

# Terminal 4: Collaboration Service
cd collaboration-service/collaboration-service
npm run dev

Start Frontend Applications

# Terminal 5: Login/Signup UI
cd feature-login-signup-ui/frontend
npm start

# Terminal 6: Matching UI
cd feature-matching-ui/frontend
npm run dev

# Terminal 7: Collaboration UI
cd feature-collaboration-ui/frontend/peerprep-collab
npm run dev

Service URLs

Once all services are running, access them at:

• Login/Signup UI: http://localhost:3000
• Matching UI: http://localhost:3002
• Collaboration UI: http://localhost:4000
• User Service API: http://localhost:3001
• Question Service API: http://localhost:5050
• Matching Service API: http://localhost:4001
• Collaboration Service API: http://localhost:3004

Docker Setup (Alternative)

For a containerized setup, use Docker Compose:

# Ensure all .env files are configured
docker-compose up -d --build

This will start all backend services in containers. Frontend applications should still be run locally for development.

Testing

Run tests for each service:

# User Service
cd user-service/user-service && npm test

# Question Service
cd question-service/question-service && npm test

# Matching Service
cd matching-service/matching-service && npm test

# Collaboration Service
cd collaboration-service/collaboration-service && npm test

Project Structure

cs3219-ay2526s1-project-g25/
├── user-service/              # User authentication and management
├── question-service/          # Question bank service
├── matching-service/          # Peer matching service
├── collaboration-service/     # Real-time collaboration service
├── feature-login-signup-ui/   # Authentication frontend
├── feature-matching-ui/        # Matching interface frontend
├── feature-collaboration-ui/   # Collaboration editor frontend
├── compose.yaml               # Docker Compose configuration

Key Features

• User Authentication: JWT-based auth with role-based access control
• Peer Matching: Redis-based queue system for matching users by topic and difficulty
• Real-time Collaboration: WebSocket-based code synchronization using Yjs
• Code Execution: Judge0 integration for running code in multiple languages
• AI Assistance: Google Gemini integration for hints and code analysis
• Question Management: Admin interface for CRUD operations on question bank

Development

Code Style

• Backend: JavaScript (ES6+) with Express.js
• Frontend: React (Login UI) and Next.js (Matching & Collaboration UIs)Is)

AI Use Summary

Tools Used: ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot.

Prohibited Phases Avoided: We confirm that AI was not used for requirements prioritization, system architecture, component design, or decision rationales. These were done solely by the team.

Uses:

• Implementation Code: Assisted in writing specific functions, classes, and unit tests after the architecture was finalized by the team.
• Debugging Assistance: Used to explain error messages and suggest fixes.
• Refactoring & Documentation: Suggested improvements to code structure and helped generate docstrings/comments.

Verification: All AI-generated outputs have been reviewed, tested, and understood by the team members. We take full responsibility for the final code.

Usage Log: A detailed log of our AI interactions is available in /ai/usage-log.md. (Note: Some initial interactions were not logged but are summarized here.)