FoFa – Foster Families Community Platform

A full-stack web application connecting foster families through announcements, messaging, and community features.

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 18 + TypeScript + Vite
Backend	Node.js + Express + TypeScript
Database	SQLite (via better-sqlite3)
Auth	JWT + Email Verification (Nodemailer/Gmail)
Media	Multer (local disk storage)
Testing	Vitest + React Testing Library + Cypress

Project Structure

fofa/
├── backend/          # Express API server
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── models/
│   │   ├── routes/
│   │   ├── services/
│   │   └── utils/
│   └── tests/
├── frontend/         # React + TypeScript SPA
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   ├── contexts/
│   │   ├── hooks/
│   │   ├── pages/
│   │   ├── services/
│   │   └── types/
│   └── tests/
└── cypress/          # E2E tests
    ├── e2e/
    ├── fixtures/
    └── support/

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Gmail account with App Password for email verification

Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install
cp .env.example .env   # fill in your values
npm run migrate        # initialise SQLite database
npm run dev            # starts on http://localhost:4005

Frontend Setup

cd frontend
npm install
cp .env.example .env
npm run dev            # starts on http://localhost:5170

Running Tests

# Backend unit tests
cd backend && npm test

# Frontend unit tests
cd frontend && npm test

# E2E tests (both servers must be running)
cd frontend && npm run cypress:open

Environment Variables

Backend .env

PORT=4005
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret_here
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d
GMAIL_USER=your@gmail.com
GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD=your_app_password
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:5170
UPLOADS_DIR=./uploads

Frontend .env

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:4005/api