Apex Circle

A developer community platform for engagement, events, hackathons, and collaboration.

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About

Apex Circle is a full-stack developer community platform that powers:

• Community Website — Public presence, member onboarding, event participation, and community storytelling
• Desktop Admin App — Internal operations console for admins and organizers
• Backend API — Centralized API powering both web and desktop clients

Comparable ecosystems: GDG, MLSA, DevRel communities.

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technologies
Community Website	React · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS · React Router v6 · TanStack Query · Zustand
Desktop Admin App	Tauri v2 · React · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS · Vite
Backend API	Node.js 20+ · Express.js · TypeScript · MongoDB · Mongoose · JWT · Zod
Infrastructure	Vercel · Render/Railway · MongoDB Atlas · Cloudinary · GitHub Actions · Sentry

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Project Structure

Apex-Circle/
├── Apex-Circle-Frontend/        # Community website (React + TypeScript + Tailwind)
├── Apex-Circle-Dasktop-Application/  # Desktop admin app (Tauri v2 + React)
├── Apex-Circle-Backend/         # Backend API (Node + Express + TypeScript + MongoDB)
└── IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md       # Detailed implementation blueprint

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ (Download)
• pnpm (Install)
• Rust (for Tauri desktop app) (Install)
• MongoDB (local or MongoDB Atlas)

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/NexGenStudioDev/Apex-Circle.git
cd Apex-Circle

Community Website (Frontend)

cd Apex-Circle-Frontend
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Backend API

cd Apex-Circle-Backend
pnpm install
cp .env.example .env   # Configure environment variables
pnpm dev

Desktop Admin App

cd Apex-Circle-Dasktop-Application
pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev

Note: The desktop app requires Rust and system dependencies for Tauri. See the Tauri prerequisites for your OS.

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Features

Community Website

• Landing page with community intro, stats, and testimonials
• Events listing, registration, and attendance tracking
• Hackathons with team formation, submissions, and judging
• Photo gallery with event-linked albums
• Community blog and learning resources
• Member dashboard with certificates
• Project showcase

Desktop Admin App

• Member management and role assignments
• Event and hackathon lifecycle management
• Content management (blog, resources, gallery)
• Certificate generation and distribution
• Analytics dashboard
• Audit logs and governance tools

Backend API

• JWT authentication (access + refresh tokens)
• Role-based access control (RBAC)
• RESTful API with Zod validation
• Media uploads via Cloudinary
• Email notifications (Nodemailer / Resend)
• Structured logging with Winston

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Roles & Permissions

Role	Description
Visitor	Public pages, no authentication required
Member	Dashboard, event registration, hackathon participation
Volunteer	Member privileges + limited operational tasks
Organizer	Manage events, hackathons, and content
Admin	Full platform control
Hackathon Manager	Hackathon-specific full control
Content Manager	Blog, resources, CMS, and gallery management

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Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community! Please read our Contributing Guidelines before getting started.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feat/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes following Conventional Commits
4. Push to your branch (git push origin feat/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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Community

• Issues — Report bugs or request features
• Discussions — Ask questions and share ideas
• Pull Requests — Contribute code

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

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Made with ❤️ by NexGenStudio