Astrynel

A modern real-time collaboration platform designed for seamless team communication and productivity. Astrynel provides shared workspaces where teams can collaborate on notes, manage tasks, and communicate through integrated chat—all synchronized in real-time using WebSocket technology.

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Tech Stack

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📋 Overview

Astrynel empowers teams to collaborate effectively by providing:

• Secure User Management – Create accounts and manage personal or team workspaces with role-based access
• Collaborative Spaces – Join workspaces through secure invitation links and collaborate with team members
• Real-Time Synchronization – Experience instant updates across notes, tasks, and chat powered by WebSocket technology
• Live Notifications – Stay informed with Redis-backed real-time notification system
• Media Management – Upload and manage images seamlessly with ImageKit integration

Built with enterprise-grade architecture and fully containerized using Docker for streamlined development and deployment workflows.

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✨ Key Features

User & Workspace Management

• Secure authentication and authorization system
• Flexible workspace creation and membership management
• Invitation-based access control for secure collaboration

Real-Time Collaboration

• Collaborative Notes – Edit and view shared notes with live synchronization
• Task Management – Create, assign, and track tasks with real-time updates
• Integrated Chat – Communicate instantly with team members within workspaces
• Live Notifications – Receive instant updates powered by Socket.IO and Redis pub/sub

Media & Storage

• Optimized image uploads through ImageKit CDN
• Fast asset delivery with automatic optimization and transformations

Technical Architecture

• Modern Next.js frontend with server-side rendering capabilities
• Robust Node.js and Express.js RESTful API backend
• Scalable MongoDB database with Redis caching layer
• Fully containerized microservices architecture using Docker
• Predictable state management via Redux Toolkit

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📁 Project Structure

astrynel/
├── frontend/              # Next.js client application
├── backend/               # Node.js + Express.js API server
└── docker-compose.yml     # Docker configuration

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⚙️ Environment Configuration

Backend Configuration

An .env.example template is provided in the backend directory for your convenience.

Setup steps:

cd backend
cp .env.example .env

Configure the following environment variables in your .env file:

PORT=5000
NODE_ENV="development"

SESSION_SECRET=""

MONGODB_URL="your_mongodb_url"

REDIS_HOST=""
REDIS_PORT=18832
REDIS_USERNAME="your_redis_username"
REDIS_PASSWORD="your_redis_username"

IMAGEKIT_PUBLIC_KEY="your_imagekit_public_key"
IMAGEKIT_PRIVATE_KEY="your_imagekit_private_key"
IMAGEKIT_URL_ENDPOINT="your_imagekit_url_endpoint"

Frontend Configuration

Create a .env file in the frontend directory:

cd frontend
touch .env

Add the following configuration:

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/api
NEXT_PUBLIC_SOCKET_URL=http://localhost:5000

Note: These URLs should point to your backend API and WebSocket server. Adjust ports as needed based on your configuration.

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🚀 Getting Started

Quick Start with Docker (Recommended)

The easiest way to run Astrynel is using Docker Compose:

docker compose up --build

This command will:

• Build all required containers
• Start the frontend, backend, MongoDB, and Redis services
• Configure networking between services automatically

Access the application at http://localhost:3000

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Manual Development Setup

For local development without Docker:

1. Install dependencies:

# Install frontend dependencies
cd frontend
npm install

# Install backend dependencies
cd ../backend
npm install

2. Start development servers:

Open two terminal windows and run:

# Terminal 1 - Frontend
cd frontend
npm run dev

# Terminal 2 - Backend
cd backend
npm run dev

The frontend will be available at http://localhost:3000 and the backend at http://localhost:5000.

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🔧 Development Status

Astrynel is currently in active development. The following core features are implemented and functional:

• ✅ User authentication and authorization
• ✅ Workspace creation and management
• ✅ Real-time collaborative notes
• ✅ Real-time task management
• ✅ Integrated team chat
• ✅ Live notification system
• ✅ Media upload and management

Additional features and enhancements are planned for future releases.

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📄 License

This project is currently under active development. Please contact the maintainers for licensing information.

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

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