Welcome to Chapter
After several years of being dissatisfied with existing group event tools (Meetup, Facebook events) we decided to build our own.
This will be a self-hosted Docker container deployed to the cloud with a one-click and then configured by the owner. No coding required.
Your organization can host an instance of Chapter under a sub-domain of your website, such as chapter.sierraclub.org or chapter.womenwhocode.org.
All of an organization's user data will remain under their control.
Our Vision statement provides more details on the reasons for Chapter.
Terminology
To better communicate and more easily build an API and UI, the current contributors have decided on a collection of terminology to clarify discussions surrounding the Chapter project:
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| instance | a web server deployment of the "Chapter" application, managed by an organization. | a Docker container running on a web host |
| organization | a non-profit with multiple chapters | Women Who Code at the sub-domain: chapter.womenwhocode.org |
| chapter | a container for events and users | Women Who Code - New York City |
| event | a meeting with a specific location and time to which users can RSVP | Coffee And Code - BistroOne, New York City, NY - April 9, 2020 |
| user | an authenticated user who is authorized based on their role(s) | Sally Gold - SallyG@example.com |
| visitor | an non-authenticated web browser session with view-only access to public content | Anonymous Web Browser Client |
| owner | the role of a user who can configure the "Chapter" application instance and manage administrators for an entire organization | Women Who Code - Global IT |
| administrator | the role of a user who can setup and manage chapters and organizers for an organization | Women Who Code - European Administrator |
| organizer | the role of a user who can manage a chapter's events, RSVPs, communications, and members | Women Who Code - Edinburgh, Local Organizer |
| member | the role of a user who can follow and receive notifications from a chapter and RSVP to events | Women Who Code - Edinburgh, Local Member |
Tech Stack
We are planning to use the following tools:
- Node.js / Express for our backend using JavaScript/TypeScript
- Postgres with TypeORM
- Next.js for both client and server-side rendering of the frontend (NextJS is based on React)
- JavaScript/TypeScript
- Material UI for components and its built-in
makeStyleshook andstyledHOC for custom styling - Functional Components with Hooks
- chai for writing unit tests.
A lot of people know these tools, and they're proven to work well at scale.
We will focus on building an open API first. Then, developers can use the API to build their own mobile clients and voice interface clients.
Development Setup
Requirements: Node.js, Docker, internet access
Installing Node.js
Follow instructions for downloading and installing Node.js for your operating system from the official Node.js website.
Ensure you are installing Node 13 and npm 6 or greater.
Installing Docker
See the Docker installation "Supported platforms" section and follow the instructions to download & install Docker Desktop for your operating system (or Docker CE for Linux).
You can find more resources on Docker here:
Starting the Development Server
Open up Terminal/Powershell/bash and navigate to the directory where you want the project to live.
Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/chapter
Navigate to the newly cloned repo:
cd chapter
Install dependencies:
npm install
If you're using local setup (no docker), make sure you add your DB credentials to .env file
Running the server:
Docker-compose (RECOMMENDED)
Ensure that Docker Desktop is up and running, then run the following command:
docker-compose up
Wait for the logs to show "server started on port 8000", then navigate to localhost:8000 to view the app.
The server will automatically restart anytime you save a .ts or .js file within the server/ directory.
You can run any command within the container by prefixing it with docker-compose exec app, e.g. docker-compose exec app npm install express
Natively running node in Windows/MacOS/Linux (no docker)
DISCLAIMER: This is a more hands on approach.
This is a lot lighter setup, but you need to provide your own Postgres DB. If you don't want to run one locally you can get it as a service on ElephantSQL.
After you setup the DB instance local or remote, create a database, add the DB name and credentials to .env
MAKE SURE TO SET IS_DOCKER= in .env to blank
npm run dev
Additional DB docs can be found in server/docs/README.md
Testing
Run tests
npm run test
If you're running in docker compose prefix the command with docker-compose exec
NODE_ENV=test docker-compose exec app npm run test
Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:watch
API Specification
We use Open API 3.0 to define the API structure of the application.
You can see our full API documentation by navigating to http://localhost:8000/api/v1/docs.
Schema
User Stories
MVP
The MVP user stories are shown in the MVP Project kanban / cards and as issues marked with "MVP".
Post-MVP
We are maintaining a list of post-MVP conversations and user stories using the "Roadmap" tag.
Quincy Larson is the project lead. FreeCodeCamp will start "dogfooding" the MVP with several of its local study groups.
Here's an out-dated example of an app with similar functionality: The freeCodeCamp Study Group Directory.
Contributing
- You should join our Discord server to get connected and follow announcements.
- Please read the suggested steps to contribute code to the Chapter project before creating issues, forking, or submitting any pull requests.
License
Copyright © 2020 freeCodeCamp.org
The computer software is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause license.
Contributors ✨
Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!