UniLink

Web platform connecting students with universities and study-abroad programs.

Tech stack

• Next.js 16 (App Router, React 19) — apps/web
• Prisma 6 + PostgreSQL — database & ORM
• Auth.js (NextAuth v5) — credentials + Google OAuth
• next-intl — i18n with English & Arabic (RTL) locales
• Tailwind CSS v4 + shadcn / Base UI — styling & components
• npm workspaces — monorepo (apps/*)

Repository layout

unilink-workspace/
├─ apps/
│  └─ web/            # Next.js app (frontend + API routes)
│     ├─ prisma/      # schema.prisma, migrations, seed/
│     ├─ messages/    # i18n translation files (en.json, ar.json)
│     ├─ public/      # static assets
│     └─ src/         # app code (app/, components/, lib/, i18n/)
├─ compose.yaml       # local PostgreSQL via Docker
└─ package.json       # workspace root scripts

Getting started

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• Docker (for local PostgreSQL) — or a hosted Postgres connection string

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Configure environment

Copy the example env files and fill in your own values:

cp .env.example .env                     # database creds for docker compose
cp apps/web/.env.example apps/web/.env    # app config (DATABASE_URL, AUTH_SECRET, OAuth)

Generate an auth secret with:

npx auth secret

Never commit .env files — they hold real credentials and are gitignored.

For hosted Supabase, use the two connection strings shown by Supabase Dashboard > Connect:

• DATABASE_URL: transaction pooler on port 6543, used by the running app
• DIRECT_URL: session pooler on port 5432, used by Prisma migrations

Keeping these separate prevents schema migrations from running through transaction pooling. Use placeholders in committed files and keep real credentials only in apps/web/.env.

For the default local Compose database, replace both database URLs in apps/web/.env with postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/unilink?schema=public. These are local development credentials only. If you customize root .env credentials or POSTGRES_PORT, make the app URLs match those values.

4. Start the database

npm run db:up

Skip this step when using Supabase.

5. Set up the schema

npm run db:deploy      # apply existing migrations without generating new ones
npm run db:seed        # load the Egyptian university catalogue

The seed is idempotent and only touches the universities it owns (matched by slug), so it is safe to re-run after editing apps/web/prisma/seed/data.ts.

Use db:migrate only when intentionally authoring a schema change. Prisma does not model the raw-SQL trigram search indexes; do not accept generated migrations that drop them during routine setup.

6. Run the app

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000

npm run build uses Next's supported Webpack production builder. The optional npm run build:turbo --workspace=apps/web retains Turbopack for environments that support its worker-port requirements. Development still uses Turbopack.

Main surfaces

Route	What it is
/{locale}/universities	Public directory of published universities
/{locale}/universities/[slug]	University profile: gallery hero plus the About / Faculties / Location / Admission Requirements / Admission Criteria / Minimum Scores / Tuition Fees tabs (?tab= is linkable)
/{locale}/universities/[slug]/programs/[programSlug]	Program profile
/{locale}/app/search	Signed-in program search: natural-language search bar, filters, match-scored result cards
/{locale}/app/compare	Side-by-side comparison of up to four programs
/{locale}/app/applications, /app/saved, /app/profile	Student workspace
/{locale}/admin	Admin dashboard: catalogue, people, growth (see below)

Everything under /{locale}/app requires a session; src/proxy.ts redirects anonymous visitors to /login.

Admin dashboard

/{locale}/admin is the back office. It is bilingual and RTL-aware like the rest of the site, but styled as its own surface — dark sidebar, light content — so there is never a doubt about which side of the product you are on.

Section	Route	What it manages
Overview	/admin	Counts across the catalogue, people and leads, plus the newest applications, sign-ups and partnership leads
Universities	/admin/universities	The university record and its gallery images, feature bullets, tab content blocks and minimum scores
Faculties	/admin/faculties	Faculties under each university
Programs	/admin/programs	Programs, their intakes and their English requirements
Users	/admin/users	Accounts, roles and the onboarding profile behind each one
Applications	/admin/applications	Every student application and its status
Leads	/admin/leads	Partnership requests submitted from /contact
Testimonials	/admin/testimonials	Home-page testimonials
Scholarships	/admin/scholarships	Scholarship listings

Access

User.role decides. Three layers guard the surface, because one is not enough:

1. src/proxy.ts sends anonymous visitors to /login. It only sees the session cookie, so it cannot tell an admin from a student.
2. Every page under [locale]/(admin)/admin calls requireAdminPage() as its first statement, which re-reads the row. A signed-in non-admin gets a 404 rather than a "forbidden" page — nothing links here, so confirming the route exists would only help someone guessing.
3. Every /api/admin/* handler independently calls requireAdmin().

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗