EngiSync
A project management and collaboration platform for university engineering students. Groups coordinate deadlines, budgets, meetings, file sharing and task assignments in one place, with an AI assistant for engineering Q&A and project analysis.
Live at engisync.co.zw
What it does
Engineering students work in groups of 4–8 on capstone and semester projects. They currently juggle WhatsApp, Google Drive, spreadsheets and memory. EngiSync replaces that with a single workspace per project:
- Tasks — assign work, set priorities and deadlines, track dependencies, log time, handle recurring items
- Calendar — month view with events, deadline countdowns, in-app and desktop reminders
- Meetings — schedule with Google Meet / Zoom / Teams links, self check-in attendance, rosters
- File sharing — resource library with uploads, temporary expiring share links, download caps, audit trail
- Budget tracking — contributions via EcoCash, OneMoney, InnBucks, cash or bank transfer; expenses, targets, per-member breakdown
- AI assistant — summarise documents, generate task lists, flag risks, answer engineering questions (Claude or GPT, admin-toggled)
- Project Hub — a browsable catalog of past and reference projects with parts lists, budgets and documentation, organised by engineering discipline
- Supervisor view — lecturers can review progress and leave feedback without joining the group
Installable as a phone app
EngiSync is a PWA. On Android the browser offers an install prompt; on iOS it guides users to Safari's Add to Home Screen. Once installed it opens without browser chrome, caches build assets to save mobile data, and delivers push notifications for deadlines.
Theming
20 visual styles (Midnight, Aero Glass, Neo-Brutalism, etc.) with light and dark modes. Every style is contrast-checked to WCAG 2.2 AA across all surfaces — body text, buttons, sidebars, banners. Students pick a personality in Settings → Appearance; the choice persists to their account.
Tech stack
| Layer | What |
|---|
| Framework | Next.js 15 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript 5.7 |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS 3.4, CSS custom properties as design tokens, next-themes |
| Auth | Auth.js v5 — credentials, Google OAuth, Microsoft Entra |
| Database | PostgreSQL on Neon, Prisma 6 ORM |
| Hosting | Vercel (with deploy-time migrations) |
| Testing | Vitest — 25 test files, 600+ assertions |
| PWA | Custom service worker, web app manifest, push notifications |
Getting started
Prerequisites: Node.js 22+, a PostgreSQL database.
npm install
cp .env.example .env # then fill in DATABASE_URL and AUTH_SECRET at minimum
npx prisma migrate dev
npm run db:seed
npm run dev # http://localhost:3000
See .env.example for the full list of environment variables. At minimum you need DATABASE_URL and AUTH_SECRET (generate one with openssl rand -base64 32).
Seed accounts
The seed script (npm run db:seed) creates test accounts for local development. See prisma/seed.ts for the credentials — they are not listed here.
Scripts
| Command | What it does |
|---|
npm run dev | Start the dev server |
npm run build | Prisma generate + Next.js production build |
npm run vercel-build | Build with deploy-time database migration (Vercel only) |
npm test | Run all tests |
npm run typecheck | TypeScript type check (tsc does not run during vitest) |
npm run lint | ESLint |
npm run format | Prettier |
npm run db:seed | Seed sample data |
npm run db:anonymise | Anonymise production data for local dev (never runs against prod by design) |
Project layout
src/
app/
(auth)/ # Login, register (public)
(public)/ # Landing page, offline fallback
dashboard/
my-work/ # Personal task view
tasks/ # Full task board
calendar/ # Month calendar + events
meetings/ # Scheduling, attendance
repository/ # File sharing + resource library
departments/ # Discipline pages (Civil, Electrical, etc.)
assistant/ # AI chat
settings/appearance/ # Theme picker
supervisor/ # Lecturer feedback view
admin/ # System administration
profile/ # User profile
api/ # Auth handler, health check
components/ # Navbar, sidebar, install prompt, UI primitives
lib/
themes.ts # 20 theme definitions + contrast utilities
contrast.ts # WCAG contrast computation
prisma.ts # Database client singleton
rbac.ts # Role-based access control
validations.ts # Zod schemas
prisma/
schema.prisma # Data model
migrations/ # Migration history
public/
icons/ # PWA icons (192, 512, maskable)
img/ # Discipline hero images
sw.js # Service worker
docs/ # Full documentation set (SRS, user manual, maintenance, etc.)
Security
- HTTPS with strict security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy)
- JWT sessions via Auth.js, RBAC enforced on every server action
- bcrypt password hashing (cost 12), bcrypt-hashed workspace PINs
- Zod validation on all inputs
- Audit log table for sensitive actions
- Rate limiting on registration, file downloads, and AI requests
- Temporary file-share links with expiry, download caps, and revocation
- Service worker caches only immutable build assets — no user data, no HTML — to prevent data leakage on shared devices
- Health probe at
/api/health
Testing
npx tsc --noEmit # type check first — vitest does not typecheck
npx next lint
npm test
npm run build
Run them in this order. Twice in this project a change passed lint and all tests while failing typecheck, because vitest executes TypeScript without checking it.
Do not run npm run build while npm run dev is running — the dev server locks query_engine-windows.dll.node and prisma generate fails.
25 test files covering RBAC, input validation, rate limiting, AI response parsing, recurrence logic, theme contrast (every style × every mode × every surface), motion tokens, typography wiring, hero image scrim compositing, and CSS regression checks.
Deployment
Production runs on Vercel with a Neon PostgreSQL database. Pushing to main triggers a build that runs prisma migrate deploy before next build — migrations happen during the build, before the new deployment is promoted. See docs/DEPLOY.md for the full runbook including rollback procedures.
The domain engisync.co.zw is registered through Webzim (ZISPA registrar), with DNS pointing at Vercel.
Documentation
The docs/ directory has the full documentation set:
- SRS & Technical Documentation
- Development Journal
- System Configuration Guide
- User Manual
- Maintenance Manual
- Security & Architecture Audit
- Product Specification
- Architecture Continuation
License
MIT
