StudyNotion - Online Education Platform 🎓

A full-stack EdTech platform built with the MERN stack, enabling students to discover and purchase courses, instructors to create and manage content, and admins to oversee the entire platform with advanced analytics.

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🚀 Key Features

For Students

• 📚 Course Catalog - Browse courses by categories with search and filtering
• 🛒 Shopping Cart - Add multiple courses and checkout seamlessly
• 💳 Razorpay Integration - Secure payment processing
• 📖 Course Player - Interactive video lectures with progress tracking
• 🤖 AI-Powered Learning Tools - AI-generated notes, timestamps, summaries, and key points for each lecture
• ⭐ Ratings & Reviews - Rate and review purchased courses
• 📊 Progress Dashboard - Track learning progress and enrolled courses
• 🔐 Secure Authentication - OTP-based signup with JWT authentication

For Instructors

• ✏️ Course Creation - Create courses with sections, subsections, and video lectures
• 📹 Media Management - Upload videos and thumbnails via Cloudinary
• 🤖 AI Video Summaries - Generate AI-powered lecture summaries using Google Gemini
• 🎤 Voice Dictation - Voice-type course details seamlessly directly into forms using the Web Speech API.
• ✨ AI Auto-Write - Automatically polish and rewrite your course descriptions professionally using OpenAI.
• 📈 Instructor Dashboard - View course performance and revenue analytics
• 👥 Student Insights - Monitor enrollments and course ratings
• ✅ Approval System - Submit courses for admin approval before publishing
• 💰 Revenue Tracking - Track earnings from course sales

For Admins

• 🎯 Platform Analytics - Comprehensive dashboard with revenue, user, and course metrics
• 📊 Advanced Charts - Revenue trends, user growth, category performance (Chart.js)
• 👮 User Management - Suspend, reactivate, or delete users with automated email notifications
• 📋 Course Moderation - Approve or reject instructor course submissions
• 🏷️ Category Management - Create, update, and delete course categories
• 🌟 Featured Courses - Toggle courses as featured on homepage
• 📧 System Monitoring - Oversee platform health and user activity

Advanced Features

• 🤖 AI-Powered Assistance - Google Gemini AI integration for video summaries and OpenAI integration for text enhancement
• 🌓 Global Theme Toggle - Zero-refactoring, seamless Light/Dark mode support using CSS Custom Properties
• 🔄 Refresh Token System - Secure session management with token rotation
• 📱 Responsive Design - Mobile-first UI built with TailwindCSS
• 🔒 Security Middleware - Helmet.js for HTTP headers security
• 🛡️ Rate Limiting - DDoS protection (100 requests per 15 minutes per IP)
• 📝 Input Validation - Express-validator for robust data validation
• 📨 Email Notifications - Automated emails for OTP, enrollment confirmations, and updates
• 🪵 Logging System - Winston logger for production-grade error tracking
• 🔐 CORS Protection - Configured allowed origins for API security

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 18 - Modern UI library with hooks
• Redux Toolkit - State management with thunks for async operations
• React Router v6 - Client-side routing
• Axios - HTTP client with interceptors for token refresh
• TailwindCSS - Utility-first CSS framework
• React Hot Toast - Beautiful notifications
• Chart.js & Recharts - Data visualization for analytics
• React Markdown - Render course content
• Swiper.js - Carousel for featured courses
• Video React - Custom video player

Backend

• Node.js - JavaScript runtime
• Express.js - Web framework
• MongoDB & Mongoose - NoSQL database with ODM
• JWT - Secure authentication with access and refresh tokens
• bcrypt - Password hashing
• Cloudinary - Media file storage and CDN
• Razorpay - Payment gateway integration
• Nodemailer - Email service
• Google Gemini AI - AI-powered content generation
• Winston - Logging framework
• Helmet - Security headers
• Express Rate Limit - DDoS protection

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📁 Project Structure

StudyNotion/
├── server/                          # Backend application
│   ├── features/                    # Feature-based modules
│   │   ├── auth/                   # Authentication & user profiles
│   │   │   ├── controllers/        # HTTP request handlers
│   │   │   ├── services/           # Business logic
│   │   │   ├── routes/             # Route definitions
│   │   │   └── validators/         # Input validation
│   │   ├── student/                # Student features (payment, reviews)
│   │   ├── instructor/             # Instructor features (courses, sections)
│   │   └── admin/                  # Admin features (analytics, users)
│   │
│   ├── shared/                     # Shared resources
│   │   ├── models/                 # Mongoose schemas
│   │   ├── middlewares/            # Auth, error handling, security
│   │   ├── utils/                  # Helpers (email, upload, tokens)
│   │   └── errors/                 # Custom error classes
│   │
│   ├── config/                     # Configuration files
│   │   ├── database.js            # MongoDB connection
│   │   ├── cloudinary.js          # Cloudinary setup
│   │   └── razorpay.js            # Payment gateway
│   │
│   ├── routes/                     # Route aggregation
│   ├── scripts/                    # Utility scripts (admin creation)
│   ├── .env                        # Environment variables
│   ├── index.js                    # Server entry point
│   └── package.json
│
├── src/                            # Frontend application
│   ├── features/                   # Feature modules
│   │   ├── admin/                  # Admin components (Analytics, User Mgmt)
│   │   ├── instructor/             # Instructor components (Create Course)
│   │   └── student/                # Student components (Cart, Enrolled)
│   │
│   ├── components/                 # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── core/                   # Feature-specific components
│   │   │   ├── Dashboard/         # Dashboard layouts
│   │   │   ├── Auth/              # Login, Signup forms
│   │   │   └── HomePage/          # Landing page sections
│   │   ├── common/                 # Shared components (Navbar, Footer)
│   │   └── course/                 # Course-related components
│   │
│   ├── pages/                      # Page components
│   │   ├── catalog/               # Course catalog pages
│   │   ├── Dashboard.jsx          # Main dashboard
│   │   ├── Home.jsx               # Landing page
│   │   └── ...
│   │
│   ├── services/                   # API integration
│   │   ├── api/                   # Axios configuration
│   │   │   ├── client.js         # Axios instance with interceptors
│   │   │   └── endpoints.js      # API endpoint constants
│   │   └── operations/            # API service functions
│   │       ├── authAPI.js
│   │       ├── adminAPI.js
│   │       ├── courseDetailsAPI.js
│   │       └── ...
│   │
│   ├── store/                      # Redux store
│   │   └── slices/                # Redux slices (auth, admin, category)
│   │
│   ├── reducer/                    # Root reducer
│   ├── shared/                     # Shared utilities
│   ├── assets/                     # Images and static files
│   ├── App.js                      # Main app component
│   └── index.js                    # React entry point
│
├── public/                         # Public assets
├── package.json                    # Frontend dependencies
└── tailwind.config.js             # TailwindCSS configuration

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or higher)
• MongoDB (local or Atlas)
• Cloudinary account
• Razorpay account
• Google Gemini API key (optional, for AI features)
• OpenAI API key (optional, for AI text enhancement features)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd StudyNotion-An-Online-Education-Platform-master

2. Backend Setup

cd server
npm install

Create a .env file in the server directory:

# Server Configuration
PORT=4000
NODE_ENV=development

# Database
MONGODB_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/studynotion

# JWT Secrets
JWT_SECRET=your_super_secret_jwt_key_minimum_32_characters
REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=your_refresh_token_secret_key
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRY=15m
REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRY=30d

# Email Configuration (Gmail)
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com
MAIL_PASS=your-app-specific-password

# Cloudinary Configuration
CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret
FOLDER_NAME=StudyNotion

# Razorpay Configuration
RAZORPAY_KEY=your_razorpay_key_id
RAZORPAY_SECRET=your_razorpay_secret

# Frontend URL (for CORS)
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000

# Google Gemini AI & OpenAI (Optional)
GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key

Start the backend server:

npm start        # Production
npm run dev      # Development (with nodemon)

Server will run on http://localhost:4000

3. Frontend Setup

# From root directory
npm install

Create a .env file in the root directory:

REACT_APP_BASE_URL=http://localhost:4000/api/v1

Start the frontend:

npm start

Frontend will run on http://localhost:3000

4. Run Both Concurrently

From the root directory:

npm run dev

This command starts both frontend and backend simultaneously.

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🎯 API Endpoints

Authentication (/api/v1/auth)

• POST /signup - Register new user
• POST /login - User login
• POST /sendotp - Send OTP for email verification
• POST /changepassword - Change password
• POST /refresh - Refresh access token
• POST /logout - Logout user

Student (/api/v1/student)

• POST /capturePayment - Initiate course payment
• POST /verifyPayment - Verify Razorpay payment
• POST /createRating - Rate a course
• POST /updateCourseProgress - Mark lecture as complete
• GET /getEnrolledCourses - Get user's enrolled courses

Instructor (/api/v1/instructor)

• POST /createCourse - Create new course
• PUT /course/:courseId - Edit course
• DELETE /course/:courseId - Delete course
• POST /createSection - Add section to course
• POST /createSubSection - Add lecture to section
• GET /getInstructorCourses - Get instructor's courses
• GET /instructorDashboard - Get revenue analytics

Admin (/api/v1/admin)

• GET /dashboard/stats - Platform statistics
• GET /dashboard/analytics - Revenue and user charts
• GET /users - List all users
• PUT /users/:userId/suspend - Suspend user
• PUT /users/:userId/unsuspend - Unsuspend user
• DELETE /users/:userId - Delete user
• GET /courses/pending - Get pending course approvals
• PUT /courses/:courseId/approval - Approve/reject course
• PUT /courses/:courseId/featured - Toggle featured status
• POST /category - Create category
• PUT /category/:categoryId - Update category
• DELETE /category/:categoryId - Delete category

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📊 Database Models

Core Models

• User - Stores user data (students, instructors, admins)
• Profile - Additional user details (linked to User)
• Course - Course information with sections and pricing
• Section - Course sections/modules
• SubSection - Individual lectures/videos
• Category - Course categories
• CourseProgress - Track student progress
• RatingAndReview - Course ratings
• RefreshToken - Secure refresh token storage
• OTP - One-time passwords for verification

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🔒 Security Features

• JWT Authentication - Access tokens (15 min) + Refresh tokens (30 days)
• Token Rotation - Optional automatic refresh token rotation
• Password Hashing - bcrypt with salt rounds
• HTTP-Only Cookies - Secure token storage
• CORS Protection - Configured allowed origins
• Rate Limiting - Prevent brute-force attacks
• Helmet Security - HTTP headers protection
• Input Validation - Express-validator middleware
• Role-Based Access - Student, Instructor, Admin permissions
• Course Approval System - Admin moderation before publishing

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Course APIs

5. GET /api/courses - Get a list of all available courses.
6. GET /api/courses/:id - Get details of a specific course by ID.
7. POST /api/courses - Create a new course.
8. PUT /api/courses/:id - Update an existing course by ID.
9. DELETE /api/courses/:id - Delete a course by ID.
10. POST /api/courses/:id/rate - Add a rating (out of 5) to a course.

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Sample API Requests and Responses

11. GET /api/courses

• Response: A list of all courses in the database.

12. GET /api/courses/:id

• Response: The course with the specified ID.

13. POST /api/courses

• Request: The course details in the request body.
• Response: The newly created course.

14. PUT /api/courses/:id

• Request: The updated course details in the request body.
• Response: The updated course.

15. DELETE /api/courses/:id

• Response: A success message indicating that the course has been deleted.

-Example:

{
  "id": "course123",
  "title": "Web Development",
  "description": "Learn to build websites",
  "rating": 4.8
}

Installation

Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/username/repo.git Navigate to the project directory: cd StudyNotion Install dependencies: npm install

Configuration

Set up a MongoDB database and obtain the connection URL. Create a .env file in the root directory with the following environment variables: MONGODB_URI= JWT_SECRET=

Usage

Start the server: npm start Open a new terminal and navigate to the client directory: cd client Start the React development server: npm start Access the application in your browser at http://localhost:3000.