Merge Staging into Main

app/controllers/admin_controller.rb

@@ -334,6 +334,28 @@ def update_creator_status
     render json: user, root: :data, status: :ok, meta: { message: "Creator status updated!" }
   end
 
+  def feature_course
+    course = Course.non_deleted_courses.find(feature_course_params[:course_id])
+
+    unless course.publish_status_published? && course.course_status_active? && !course.private?
+      raise Errors::BaseError.new(message: "Only published, active, public courses can be featured", status: 400)
+    end
+
+    # Adding an already-featured course just refreshes its featured date (bumping it up the list)
+    course.update!(featured_at: Time.now)
+
+    render json: course, root: :data, status: :ok, meta: { message: "Course added to featured list!" }
+  end
+
+  def unfeature_course
+    course = Course.non_deleted_courses.find(feature_course_params[:course_id])
+
+    # Idempotent: removing a course that isn't featured is a no-op
+    course.update!(featured_at: nil)
+
+    render json: course, root: :data, status: :ok, meta: { message: "Course removed from featured list!" }
+  end
+
   def dummy_course_toggle
     course = Course.find(dummy_course_toggle_params[:course_id])
 
@@ -426,4 +448,8 @@ def update_creator_status_params
   def dummy_course_toggle_params
     params.permit(:course_id, :undo_dummy_status)
   end
+
+  def feature_course_params
+    params.permit(:course_id)
+  end
 end

app/controllers/auth_controller.rb

@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ def login_creator
 
     # If the user is not a creator or admin, they cannot login here
     if user.creator_status_none? && user.user_type != :admin
-      raise Errors::AuthenticationError.new(message: "You are not an approved creator, please use the usual StudyRound login")
+      raise Errors::AuthenticationError.new(message: "You are not a creator. Please visit https://app.studyround.com to onboard as a creator.")
     end
 
     if user && user.authenticate(login_params[:password])

app/controllers/courses_controller.rb

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ class CoursesController < ApplicationController
   include CardTransactionHelper
 
   before_action :default_12_page_size, only: [:index, :per_category, :enrolled_courses, :search, :my_courses, :tests, :purchased_courses, :purchased_tests, :created_courses]
-  skip_before_action :authorize!, only: [:index, :show, :categorised, :similar_courses, :top_courses, :trending_courses, :search, :dummy_courses]
+  skip_before_action :authorize!, only: [:index, :show, :categorised, :similar_courses, :top_courses, :trending_courses, :search, :dummy_courses, :featured_courses]
   before_action :check_creators_consent, only: [:create]
   before_action :load_creators_course, only: [:update, :publish, :destroy]
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ def create
         raise Errors::ForbiddenError.new(message: "You have reached the maximum number of courses you can create")
       end
     else
-      # Do nothing
+      raise Errors::ForbiddenError.new(message: "You are not a creator. Please visit https://app.studyround.com to onboard as a creator.")
     end
 
     course_params = prepare_received_course_params(create_course_params)
@@ -387,6 +387,14 @@ def dummy_courses
     render json: paginated_courses, root: :data, meta: paginated_meta(paginated_courses)
   end
 
+  def featured_courses
+    # Curated courses for the dashboard, ordered by most recently featured
+    courses = Course.featured_courses
+
+    paginated_courses = paginate(courses, params)
+    render json: paginated_courses, root: :data, meta: paginated_meta(paginated_courses)
+  end
+
   private
 
   def load_creators_course

app/controllers/questions_controller.rb

@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def create
         raise Errors::ForbiddenError.new(message: "You have reached the maximum number of questions for this course")
       end
     else
-      # Do nothing
+      raise Errors::ForbiddenError.new(message: "You are not a creator. Please visit https://app.studyround.com to onboard as a creator.")
     end
 
     draft = create_draft(create_question_params)

app/models/course.rb

@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ class Course < ApplicationRecord
 
   scope :published_active_or_dummy_courses, -> { published_active_courses.or(dummy_courses) }
 
+  # Curated, admin-featured courses for the dashboard. Ordered by most recently featured first.
+  scope :featured_courses, -> { published_active_courses.where.not(featured_at: nil).order(featured_at: :desc) }
+
   scope :filtered_by_search, -> (search) { where('title ILIKE ?', "%#{search}%") }
 
   # This doesn't provide unique results, so we're using the other one. Using distinct also fails on some queries.

config/routes.rb

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
   end
 
   get '/courses/categorised', to: "courses#categorised"
+  get '/courses/featured', to: "courses#featured_courses"
   get '/courses/top', to: "courses#top_courses"
   get '/courses/trending', to: "courses#trending_courses"
   get '/courses/recent', to: "courses#recent_courses"
@@ -155,6 +156,8 @@
   patch '/admin/update-result', to: "admin#update_result"
   patch '/admin/update-creator-status', to: "admin#update_creator_status"
   patch '/admin/dummy-course-toggle', to: "admin#dummy_course_toggle"
+  post '/admin/feature-course', to: "admin#feature_course"
+  delete '/admin/feature-course', to: "admin#unfeature_course"
 
   post '/automation/assign-course', to: "automation#assign_course"
   post '/automation/create-course', to: "automation#create_course"

db/migrate/20260607175212_add_featured_at_to_courses.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class AddFeaturedAtToCourses < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.2]
+  def change
+    add_column :courses, :featured_at, :datetime
+  end
+end

db/schema.rb

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 2026_03_08_142256) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 2026_06_07_175212) do
 
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "plpgsql"
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@
     t.datetime "last_publish_date"
     t.integer "rating_count", default: 0
     t.boolean "invite_only", default: false
+    t.datetime "featured_at"
     t.index ["creator_id"], name: "index_courses_on_creator_id"
     t.index ["title"], name: "index_courses_on_title"
   end