MeetaDev

Networking for DevFest & GDG events.

Organisers create a space for their DevFest or GDG event. Attendees join it with a link or code, check in at the venue, and swipe through the people who are there (mentors, learners, people hiring, future co-founders). When two people both tap Meet, they can chat, find each other, and both tap We met.

Ayo, the buddy, guides people through a 7-step, Duolingo-style onboarding, suggests matches, and reacts as you go.

The core loop

Everything is built from five primitives. A new feature should be one of these, or read them back; it shouldn't add a second way to do the same thing.

Primitive	Stored as	Rule
Person	profiles	One badge, reused at every event.
Here	event_members.checked_in_at	For now, joining an event is enough (CHECKIN_REQUIRED is off). With CHECKIN_REQUIRED=1: set by scanning the event's check-in code (/e/<slug>/checkin?k=…), shown only at the venue; lasts for that day (Lagos time), and only on the event's date when it has one.
Want to meet	a pending row in connection_requests	One-way and private: never shown or sent to the person it's about.
Connection	the same row, accepted	Both want to meet. The only moment anyone is told. Unlocks chat and contact details.
Met	a meetings row from each person for the same event	Each taps We met; it counts once both have, at an event both are here at that day.

The deck's Pass (passes) only hides someone from your deck at that event. "Your people here" is Here plus Connection: nothing extra is stored.

The one number: of the matches made at an event, how many became meetings.

For organisers

• Only approved GDG organisers can create events. At /events/new, anyone else sees an application form (chapter name, their chapter's page on gdg.community.dev, city). A platform admin reviews it at /admin.
• Create an event once approved: name, city (required), date, welcome note. The creator becomes its organiser.
• Show in "Find events" (on by default): people who follow the event's city see it at /discover.
• Invite people: an invite link (with the join code built in), a QR code, and a 6-character join code. "Show on screen" opens a full-screen join slide for the projector.
• Check-in code (only when CHECKIN_REQUIRED=1): a second QR, for the venue only (posters, the welcome screen: "Show on screen" opens /e/<slug>/screen?show=checkin). Scanning it is what makes someone here, and only people who are here show up in the deck. "Make a new code" stops the old one working.
• Joining is open: anyone signed in can join from the event page. The invite link and code are shortcuts, not a lock. "Make a new code" stops the old code working.
• Dashboard at /e/<slug>/manage: the funnel (joined, here, swiped, matched, met), reports, members with when they checked in and how many people they've met, filterable to who's here.
• Members: make co-organisers, remove someone (they can rejoin), or ban them from the event.
• Reports filed by people at your event land in your dashboard.

Communities

• Communities (GDG chapters, GDG on Campus / student clubs, Women Techmakers, other developer communities) each have a public page at /c/<slug> with their upcoming events, listed in the sitemap.
• Organisers search the list when applying and pick their community. If it isn't listed they add it (GDG chapters must link to their gdg.community.dev page); it goes live when an admin approves the application.
• Events can be linked to a community the organiser runs, and show "Hosted by …".
• Attendees see "Communities in your cities" on Find events.
• Bulk import: on /admin, paste one community per line: name, type, city, country, link (commas or tabs, straight from a spreadsheet). Re-importing updates instead of duplicating. Template: docs/communities-template.csv.
• There's no automatic import from gdg.community.dev: its robots.txt disallows /api/ for crawlers.

For admins

• Admins are set with ADMIN_EMAILS (comma-separated Google emails) in the environment. Nobody can make themselves an admin from inside the app.
• /admin: approve or decline organiser applications, add an organiser by email, or revoke someone's right to create new events (their existing events stay).

For attendees

• Follow cities: during onboarding and on /discover, add every city you go to events in. "Find events" lists upcoming listed events in all of them. Anyone can search /discover?city=Lagos without signing in.
• One badge for every event: role, level, what you're here for, stack, intro, private contact, public links.
• Events: join with an invite link or a code; switch between events from the top bar. The deck, directory and suggestions are limited to people at the same event.
• Deck: once checked in, the event opens on a deck of the people who are here, best match first, each with the reason. Meet, Pass (hidden for this event only), Undo; drag, tap, or use the arrow keys. People who already want to meet you rank a little higher, and nothing says so.
• "People you should meet": matches mentors with people who want a mentor, hiring with job hunting, co-founder with co-founder, shared stack, and so on. Every suggestion says why.
• Directory with search and filters (role, level, intent, stack) plus quick filters.
• Meet (deck or directory) is private until it's mutual: no requests, no notes, no declines. A match notifies the other person and opens chat.
• We met: in the chat, or on a profile after scanning someone's badge. It counts once both tap it, and the leaderboard ranks people met in person.
• Your people here: when you check in, connections who are already here get a ping, and the deck shows who's here. Never between events.
• Delete my account: on My badge, after typing DELETE. Removes the badge, contacts, connections, chats and notifications; meetings already confirmed still count for the other person, without the deleted name. Bans, blocks and reports stay, tied only to a SHA-256 hash of the Google ID, and apply again if that Google account signs in later.
• Private contact details: WhatsApp, phone and email are only sent to the browser once you're connected.
• My badge: a QR code that opens your profile, for meeting in person; profile strength meter.
• Contacts: one-tap WhatsApp, a 10-person goal, and "Save all to phone" (.vcf export).
• Safety: block, report, hide from the directory, rate limits (sign-ups, logins, 300 Meet or Pass choices and 100 We met taps a day).
• Sign in with Google only. No passwords. First sign-in creates the account (name and photo come from Google), and later sign-ins go straight back in.

Run locally

cp .env.example .env.local   # set DATABASE_URL to a Postgres database
npm install
npm run migrate
npm run seed:demo            # optional: a demo event (/e/demo-devfest, code DEMO26) with 8 made-up attendees, all checked in
npm run dev

Without Google keys you can still test locally: set ALLOW_DEV_LOGIN=1 in .env.local and a "sign in as test attendee" form appears for @example.test emails. It only works under next dev; production builds return 404 for it. See docs/TESTING.md.

Set up Google sign-in

1. In Google Cloud Console create or pick a project, then go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen. Choose External, fill in the app name ("meetadev") and support email, add the scopes openid, email and profile, and publish the app so anyone can sign in.
2. Credentials → Create credentials → OAuth client ID → Web application.
   • Authorised JavaScript origin: https://your-domain
   • Authorised redirect URI: https://your-domain/api/auth/google/callback
   • For local work also add http://localhost:3000 and http://localhost:3000/api/auth/google/callback (use your port).
3. Put GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET and APP_URL in Vercel → Settings → Environment Variables (and in .env.local for local).

Deploy (Vercel + Neon)

1. Push to GitHub and import the repo in Vercel.
2. Add a Neon Postgres database from the Vercel Marketplace. That sets DATABASE_URL / DATABASE_URL_UNPOOLED.
3. Add the Google variables above, and ADMIN_EMAILS with the Google email(s) of whoever approves organisers.
4. Deploy. prebuild runs the migration on every deploy.

Legal pages

/privacy, /terms and /guidelines are public and linked from the landing page, sign-in and My badge. The facts they quote (operator, contact email, last-updated date) live in src/lib/legal.ts. When a feature changes what is stored or who can see it, update the privacy page in the same change. Add the privacy and terms URLs to the Google OAuth consent screen.

Stack

Next.js 16 (App Router, Server Actions, proxy.ts), Postgres via pg, zod, Motion, qrcode. Google Sans / Google Sans Code fonts. Auth is Google OpenID Connect (authorization code + PKCE, state check, no extra library); sessions are httpOnly cookies and only token hashes are stored.

Not built yet

• Event logos or custom colours (every event uses the Google colours).
• Email notifications (e.g. telling an organiser they were approved). They see it next time they open "Create an event".
• A fixed list of cities. Cities are free text, tidied ("lagos " becomes "Lagos") and matched case-insensitively, with suggestions from cities that already have events.
• Uploading a different profile photo (the Google photo is used, otherwise coloured initials).

Not an official Google product. Google and DevFest are trademarks of Google LLC.