---

📸 Preview

_{🖥️ Linkastra — Main Page}

📋 Project Overview

Linkastra is a full-stack professional networking platform inspired by LinkedIn, designed to demonstrate real-world engineering competencies — including relational database design, RESTful API architecture, token-based security, file management, and modern React state management at scale.

🚧 Currently in active development.
Core backend APIs are complete and the frontend feed is functional — displaying posts in a card-based UI via live API integration.

Field	Details
Project Name	Linkastra
Type	Full-Stack Web Application (LinkedIn Clone)
Status	In Development — Feed API integrated & rendering on frontend
Architecture	Monorepo · /backend (Node.js/Express) · /frontend (Next.js)
Deployment Target	Render (planned)
Auth Strategy	Token-Based Authentication (JWT + bcrypt)

---

✨ Features

✅ Implemented

• User registration & login with bcrypt password hashing
• JWT token-based authentication & protected routes
• Post creation and retrieval via RESTful APIs
• Frontend feed — posts rendered in a responsive card view
• File upload support (profile pictures, media attachments)
• Modular backend: controllers, models, routes, uploads

📋 Planned / In Progress

• Connection request system (send, accept, reject) with full state management
• User profiles with experience, education & skills sections
• PDF export of profile / resume (Project FUGU — Web APIs integration)
• Biometric / hardware-based authentication (Project FUGU — WebAuthn)
• Notifications feed
• Full deployment pipeline on Render

---

🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

Technology	Purpose
Next.js 16	React framework with SSR & file-based routing
Redux Toolkit	Global state management
Axios	HTTP client for API communication

Backend

Technology	Purpose
Node.js + Express.js	REST API server
bcrypt	Password hashing
JWT	Stateless token-based auth

Tooling & Deployment

Technology	Purpose
REST HTTP Client	API testing during development
Render	Cloud deployment (planned)

---

📁 Project Structure

Linkastra/
├── backend/
│   ├── controllers/     # Route handler logic
│   ├── models/          # Database models / schemas
│   ├── routes/          # API route definitions
│   ├── uploads/         # File upload storage
│   ├── .env             # Environment variables (not committed)
│   ├── api.http         # REST HTTP client collection
│   └── server.js        # Express app entry point
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/             # Next.js app source
│   ├── public/          # Static assets
│   ├── .next/           # Next.js build output (not committed)
│   └── next.config.mjs  # Next.js configuration
└── README.md

---

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+
• npm or yarn
• A running database instance (configured via .env)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/Linkastra.git
cd Linkastra

2. Setup & run the backend

cd backend
npm install
# Add your DB credentials and JWT_SECRET to .env
node server.js

3. Setup & run the frontend

cd ../frontend
npm install
npm run dev

The app will be available at http://localhost:3000

---

💡 Key Engineering Concepts

Concept	Description
Token Auth (JWT)	Stateless authentication via signed JWT tokens, with bcrypt for secure password hashing at rest
Redux Toolkit	Centralized global state for connection request flows, auth state, and feed data
File Upload	Multipart form handling on the Express backend; files persisted under /uploads
Project FUGU	Google Chrome initiative bridging native device hardware to web apps — enabling PDF export, biometric login (WebAuthn), and WebGPU-backed features via browser APIs

---

🗺️ Development Roadmap

Phase	Milestone	Status
1	Database design & schema	✅ Complete
2	Backend REST APIs (auth, posts, users)	✅ Complete
3	Frontend feed — post cards via API	✅ Complete
4	Connection request system	🔄 In Progress
5	Full profile pages	📋 Planned
6	PDF export (Project FUGU)	📋 Planned
7	WebAuthn biometric auth	📋 Planned
8	Deployment on Render	📋 Planned

---

☁️ Deployment

Linkastra is planned for deployment on Render, hosting both services separately:

• Backend — Node.js web service on Render
• Frontend — SSR Next.js service on Render
• Environment variables managed via Render's dashboard (never committed to source)

---

📌 Note

This project is actively under development. Features marked as Planned will be implemented in upcoming iterations. The README will be updated as development progresses.

---

Built with ❤️ by Dimple  ·  Linkastra © 2026