Smart Thesis Repository

An AI-powered academic research platform for BSIT students to upload, discover, and analyze thesis papers.

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Overview

The Smart Thesis Repository is a full-stack SaaS platform built for BSIT students and faculty. Students upload PDF thesis papers that are automatically indexed for full-text search and analyzed with AI. Advisers leave structured feedback. Admins manage submissions and users through a dedicated dashboard.

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Screenshots

Landing Page

Thesis Repository with Search & Filters

AI Research Tools

Admin Dashboard

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Features

• PDF Upload — Drag-and-drop upload to Cloudinary with automatic text extraction via pdf-parse
• Full-Text Search — PostgreSQL to_tsvector / plainto_tsquery across title, abstract, and extracted content
• AI Research Tools — 5 Gemini-powered tools: summary, abstract, title suggestions, APA citation, related studies
• Daily Rate Limiting — Max 10 AI requests per user per day, tracked in the database
• Role-Based Access — Student · Admin · Adviser with distinct permission sets
• Bookmarks — Save and revisit any thesis with an optimistic-UI toggle
• Comments — Advisers and Admins leave structured feedback on thesis pages
• Admin Panel — Approve/reject submissions, manage users, platform-wide statistics
• Dark Mode — System-preference aware, persistent via next-themes
• JWT Auth — Stored in httpOnly cookies — not accessible to JavaScript
• Responsive — Mobile-first Tailwind layout throughout

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User Roles

Role	Permissions
STUDENT	Register, upload theses, use AI tools, search, bookmark
ADMIN	All student permissions + approve/reject theses, manage users, view platform stats
ADVISER	View theses, post comments on student papers

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Tech Stack

Frontend

Technology	Purpose
Next.js 14 (App Router)	React framework with server/client component model
TypeScript	Full type safety across all components and hooks
Tailwind CSS	Utility-first styling with dark mode support
next-themes	System-aware dark/light mode with persistence
shadcn/ui	Accessible component primitives
Axios	HTTP client with httpOnly cookie support
lucide-react	Icon library

Backend

Technology	Purpose
Node.js + Express.js	REST API server
TypeScript	Typed controllers, services, and middleware
Prisma ORM	Type-safe database access
Zod	Runtime validation on all request bodies
Multer	PDF file handling (memory storage)
pdf-parse	Text extraction from uploaded PDFs

Database & Storage

Technology	Purpose
PostgreSQL via Supabase	Primary database (free tier)
Cloudinary	PDF file storage and delivery (free tier)

AI & Auth

Technology	Purpose
Google Gemini 1.5 Flash	AI text generation (free tier)
jsonwebtoken	JWT — 7-day expiry, httpOnly cookie
bcryptjs	Password hashing (12 salt rounds)

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Project Structure

Smart_Thesis_Repository/
├── backend/
│   ├── prisma/schema.prisma       # 7 Prisma models
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── config/                # Prisma client singleton, Cloudinary
│   │   ├── controllers/           # auth, thesis, ai, bookmark, comment, admin
│   │   ├── services/              # Business logic + DB queries
│   │   ├── middleware/            # auth, role, upload
│   │   ├── routes/                # All Express routers
│   │   └── utils/                 # JWT, response helpers, pdf extractor
│   ├── server.ts
│   └── render.yaml                # Render deployment config
│
├── frontend/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── (auth)/login, register
│   │   ├── (dashboard)/
│   │   │   ├── dashboard/         # Role-aware stats
│   │   │   ├── thesis/            # Listing, upload, detail
│   │   │   ├── ai-tools/          # 5 Gemini tools
│   │   │   ├── bookmarks/
│   │   │   └── admin/             # Stats + user management
│   │   └── providers.tsx          # ThemeProvider + AuthProvider
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── ai/                    # AiToolPanel, AiOutput
│   │   ├── layout/                # DashboardLayout (sidebar + dark toggle)
│   │   ├── shared/                # LoadingSkeleton, EmptyState, ErrorBanner,
│   │   │                          #   SearchBar, FilterBar, FileUpload
│   │   └── thesis/                # ThesisCard, ThesisDetail, BookmarkButton,
│   │                              #   CommentSection
│   ├── hooks/                     # useAuth, useThesis
│   ├── lib/api.ts                 # Axios instance
│   ├── types/index.ts             # All TypeScript interfaces
│   └── vercel.json                # Vercel deployment config
│
├── DEPLOYMENT.md                  # Step-by-step production deployment guide
└── README.md

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Local Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Supabase project (free tier)
• Cloudinary account (free tier)
• Google AI Studio API key (free tier)

Backend

cd backend
npm install

# Copy and fill in environment variables
cp .env.example .env

# Generate Prisma client and run migration
npx prisma generate
npx prisma migrate dev --name init

# Start development server (http://localhost:5000)
npm run dev

Frontend

cd frontend
npm install

# Create environment file
echo "NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5000" > .env.local

# Initialize shadcn/ui (first time only)
npx shadcn@latest init

# Start development server (http://localhost:3000)
npm run dev

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Environment Variables

backend/.env

Variable	Description
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string from Supabase
JWT_SECRET	Long random string (openssl rand -base64 64)
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME	From Cloudinary dashboard
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY	From Cloudinary dashboard
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET	From Cloudinary dashboard
GEMINI_API_KEY	From aistudio.google.com
CLIENT_URL	Frontend URL (e.g. http://localhost:3000)
PORT	Server port (default: 5000)
NODE_ENV	development or production

frontend/.env.local

Variable	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL	Backend URL (e.g. http://localhost:5000)

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API Reference

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	Public	Create account
POST	/api/auth/login	Public	Login, set JWT cookie
POST	/api/auth/logout	Public	Clear JWT cookie
GET	/api/auth/me	Required	Get current user
GET	/api/theses	Public	Paginated listing with search & filters
GET	/api/theses/mine	Required	Current user's own theses
GET	/api/theses/:id	Public	Full thesis with AI outputs & comments
POST	/api/theses	Required	Upload PDF thesis
PATCH	/api/theses/:id/status	Admin	Approve or reject
POST	/api/ai/summarize/:id	Required	Generate 3-paragraph summary
POST	/api/ai/abstract/:id	Required	Generate formal abstract
POST	/api/ai/titles/:id	Required	Suggest 5 alternative titles
POST	/api/ai/citation/:id	Required	Format APA 7th edition citation
POST	/api/ai/related/:id	Required	Suggest related research topics
GET	/api/ai/outputs/:id	Required	Saved AI outputs for thesis
GET	/api/ai/usage	Required	Today's AI request count
POST	/api/bookmarks/:id	Required	Toggle bookmark
GET	/api/bookmarks	Required	All bookmarked theses
GET	/api/bookmarks/:id/status	Required	Check if bookmarked
GET	/api/comments/:id	Required	Get comments on a thesis
POST	/api/comments/:id	Admin/Adviser	Post a comment
GET	/api/admin/stats	Admin	Platform statistics
GET	/api/admin/theses	Admin	All theses (no status filter)
GET	/api/admin/users	Admin	Paginated user list
DELETE	/api/admin/users/:id	Admin	Delete user + cascade

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Security

Measure	Implementation
Password hashing	bcrypt, 12 salt rounds
Authentication	JWT (7-day expiry), httpOnly cookie
CORS	CLIENT_URL whitelist, credentials: true
Input validation	Zod on every request body
Role enforcement	requireRole() middleware on all protected routes
File validation	PDF mime check + 10 MB limit via Multer
AI rate limiting	Max 10 Gemini requests/user/day (DB-tracked)
Timing-safe login	bcrypt always runs even for non-existent emails
Cloudinary rollback	Uploaded file deleted if DB write fails

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Deployment

See DEPLOYMENT.md for the full step-by-step guide.

Quick summary:

1. Supabase — copy the PostgreSQL connection string
2. Render — connect GitHub repo, set env vars, deploy backend
3. Vercel — connect GitHub repo, set NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL, deploy frontend
4. Migrations — run npx prisma migrate deploy in Render shell

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

MIT License — Copyright (c) 2025 Smart Thesis Repository

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software to deal in the Software without restriction, including without
limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute,
sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software.