Gola Application

This repository currently contains a Node.js + Express + MongoDB web app that is running in Docker and serving a personal portfolio-style homepage, while also containing partially built modules for a larger learning/ecommerce platform.

The codebase is a mix of:

• Active portfolio functionality (homepage, contact form, Medium RSS feed).
• Inactive or unfinished platform features (users, courses, cart/order, permissions, wallet/payment helpers, i18n, auth scaffolding).

Product Direction (Confirmed)

• Delivery mode: Hybrid
  • Public portfolio landing pages.
  • Full platform behind authentication.
• Payments: Keep Paystack.
• Authentication: Local auth + social auth.
• Social auth rollout: Google first.
• Access rule: signup requires verified email before platform access (local via email token; Google via Google-verified email).

What Is Meant To Be Built

Based on routes, models, views, and middleware, the intended final application appears to be:

• A personal brand site and portfolio.
• A course/mentorship platform with user accounts and enrollments.
• A payment-enabled commerce flow (cart/orders/wallet/transaction verification).
• Role-based access control (owner/admin/student/subscriber).
• Optional multilingual support.

The platform foundation is now partially wired, but major product features are still pending.

Current Status (What Works Now)

• App boots and serves on port 3000.
• MongoDB connects in Docker.
• Home page is rendered from views/pages/index.ejs.
• Contact form submits to POST /send-message and stores a Message.
• Blog section calls GET /api/blogs and reads Medium RSS feed.
• Local auth routes are available (/user/register, /user/login, /user/logout).
• Email verification is enforced before platform access.
• Platform pages are protected (/learn, /courses, /user/dashboard).
• Google auth route is scaffolded and enabled when Google credentials are configured.

Runtime Architecture

• Entry point: app.js
• Web framework: Express + EJS templating
• Database: MongoDB via Mongoose
• Containers: app + mongo via Docker Compose
• Static assets: public/

There is now a controllers/ layer for public/auth/platform flows, while some legacy modules still need migration.

Folder Overview

• app.js: Express bootstrap, middleware, route mounting, DB connection.
• routes/: HTTP endpoints.
• models/: Mongoose schemas.
• middleware/: helper modules for auth, validation, email, market, wallet, etc.
• worker/: async email worker wrappers.
• views/: EJS templates (pages + partials).
• public/: CSS/JS/fonts/images.
• config/: db + passport config.
• locales/: translation JSON files (many currently empty).
• Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, docker-compose copy.yml: container setup.

Route Map (Current)

Mounted in app.js

• / -> routes/index.js
• /user -> routes/user.js
• / and /pages -> routes/pages.js
• /admin -> routes/admin.js
• /blog -> routes/blog.js
• /payment -> routes/payment.js

Endpoints implemented

• GET /

  • Renders views/pages/index.ejs.

• GET /about

• GET /ask

• POST /send-message

  • Saves contact form payload to MongoDB Message.
  • Triggers background contact email sender.

• GET /api/blogs

  • Fetches latest Medium RSS entries.

• GET /learn

• GET /courses

  • Authenticated + email-verified platform routes.

• GET /user/register / POST /user/register

• GET /user/login / POST /user/login

• GET /user/verify-email/:token

• GET /user/dashboard

• GET /user/logout

• GET /user/auth/google

  • Returns 503 unless Google credentials are provided.

• GET /payment/enroll/:product

  • Placeholder enrollment route behind auth + verification.

• GET /admin/

  • Restricted to admin/owner roles, currently placeholder.

• GET /blog/

  • Redirects to homepage blog section anchor.

Models Present

• User: account profile, role, auth tokens, enrolled courses.
• Course: course metadata and instructor relation.
• Category: course grouping.
• Cart: cart-like data model (room/hotel-style fields; needs cleanup).
• Order: purchase record (schema differs from market middleware expectations).
• Permission: role-to-route permission map.
• Review: review model for blog/course.
• Blog: internal blog schema.
• Message: contact form submissions.
• Item: simple name model.

Middleware / Utilities Present

• email.js, worker/workers.js: email sending wrappers.
• confirm.js, permissionCache.js, apiAuth.js: auth/permission helpers.
• validator.js: signup/signin/contact validation helpers.
• storage.js: multer upload helper.
• verifyPayment.js: Paystack verify helper.
• market.js: cart/order helpers.
• walletCreate.js, walletBalance.js: wallet helpers.
• language.js: user language application.
• gravatar.js, ipwhiteList.js, qrCode.js: extra utility middleware.

Key Gaps and Inconsistencies

• Missing models referenced by wallet code:
  • models/wallet, models/balance.
• Missing email templates referenced by middleware/email.js:
  • views/emails/emailActivate.ejs is present.
  • Other templates (emailWelcome, emailBirthday, emailPasswordReset, emailCompletedOrder) are still missing.
• Route/functionality mismatch:
  • Paystack enrollment route is only a placeholder right now.
  • Several frontend links still point to not-yet-built product pages.
• Data/model consistency issues:
  • Mixed Mongoose connection usage (conn.model(...) vs mongoose.model(...)).
  • middleware/market.js order payload shape does not match models/order.js.
• i18n quality issues:
  • many locale JSON files are empty/invalid.
  • namespace typo mismatch (settiings.json file vs settings namespace in i18n.js).
• View/template quality issues:
  • views/pages/courses.ejs now has starter content, but needs full product content.
  • duplicated sidebar markup in views/pages/index.ejs.
  • legacy contact form snippets still exist in partials.
• Docker config duplication:
  • docker-compose.yml expects env-provided MONGO_URI.
  • docker-compose copy.yml hardcodes MONGO_URI and is currently the reliable local file.

Docker (Current Recommended Run)

docker compose -f "docker-compose copy.yml" up --build -d

Check:

docker compose -f "docker-compose copy.yml" ps
docker compose -f "docker-compose copy.yml" logs -f app
docker compose -f "docker-compose copy.yml" logs -f mongo

Stop:

docker compose -f "docker-compose copy.yml" down

Required Environment Variables (Target)

At minimum for a full build:

• PORT
• MONGO_URI
• SESSION_SECRET
• APP_BASE_URL
• MAIL_USERNAME
• MAIL_PASSWORD
• MAIL_SERVER
• MAIL_PORT
• DEFAULT_SENDER
• ADMIN_EMAIL
• FEEDBACK_EMAIL
• PAYSTACK_KEY (or align with current Paystack key naming)
• GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID
• GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET
• GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL

Next Step

Use TODO_APP.md as the execution plan to complete this application safely and in phases.