HireKey

Go backend · MongoDB · Vanilla JS — Social networking and professional recruitment platform with real-time chat, feed, and events.

Feed View	Profile View	Recruiting View
Feed page with multi-tab layout (For You, Following, Your Team), engagement metrics, media attachments, and pagination via limit/offset.	Profile page with story viewer, follow/block actions, detail rows, and embedded event cards with RSVP.	Leaflet.js map view of recruitment candidates with geographic markers, industry tags, and list/map toggle.

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Quick Start

Prerequisites: Go 1.25+, MongoDB 6.0+, Docker (optional)

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/alextitosdev/hirekey.git
cd hirekey

# Option A: Run with Docker Compose (recommended)
# Note: Config is baked into src/env.go. Edit before build.
docker compose up -d

# Option B: Run natively
make run

Expected output:

HireKey starting...
Server starting on :8080

Access: http://localhost:8080

Stop containers: docker compose down

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Go 1.25
Database	MongoDB 7.0
Frontend	Vanilla JavaScript (ES modules)
Templates	Go html/template
Auth	Cookie-based sessions + 2FA
Map Rendering	Leaflet.js
Container	Docker / docker-compose
Reverse Proxy	Nginx (TLS, static serving, proxy)
OS Service	systemd

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Architecture

flowchart TD
    subgraph Client["Browser (PWA)"]
        UI[Vanilla JS]
        SW[Service Worker]
    end

    subgraph Infra["Infrastructure"]
        NGINX[Nginx Reverse Proxy\nTLS termination]
        APP[HireKey Go Server\nport 8080]
    end

    subgraph Storage["Data Layer"]
        MONGO[(MongoDB 7.0\nprofiles, posts,\nmessages, events)]
        VOL[Mongo Volume\npersistent data]
    end

    UI -->|HTTP /api/*| NGINX
    NGINX -->|proxy_pass| APP
    UI -->|/static/*| NGINX
    SW -->|cache-first| UI
    APP -->|MongoDB| MONGO
    MONGO --> VOL

    style Client fill:#f0f0f0,stroke:#333
    style Infra fill:#e1f5fe,stroke:#0277bd
    style Storage fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#2e7d32

Loading

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Reproducibility

Configuration

All runtime config lives in src/env.go as Go variables — no .env parsing, you must edit the file directly:

var MongoDBURL string = "mongodb://localhost:27017"
var DBName        string = "hirekey"
var Port          string = "8080"
var EnableLogin   bool = true
// ... mock toggles

Database Initialization

No schema migration required. Collections are created on first insert. For a clean state:

# Drop database (development)
mongosh --eval "db.getSiblingDB('hirekey').dropDatabase()"

# Or in docker-compose:
docker compose down -v && docker compose up -d

Build Commands

# Native build (static binary, no CGO)
make build
ls -lh build/hirekey

# Docker build (multi-stage, ~65MB final image)
docker compose build --no-cache

Expected build output:

==> Building hirekey...
==> Build complete: build/hirekey

Static binary verification:

ldd build/hirekey
# not a dynamic executable

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Deployment & Operations

Docker Compose (Development / Staging)

# docker-compose.yml included in repository
# Services: hirekey-app, hirekey-mongo
# Volume: mongo-data (persistent)
# Health check: mongosh ping every 10s
# Logging: json-file driver, 10MB max, 3 files retained

Systemd (Production)

# Deploy binary
sudo cp build/hirekey /opt/hirekey/
sudo chown hirekey:hirekey /opt/hirekey/hirekey

# Configure environment
sudo cp deploy/env.example /etc/hirekey/env
sudo nano /etc/hirekey/env  # Edit MongoDB URI, etc.

# Enable service
sudo cp deploy/hirekey.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now hirekey
sudo systemctl status hirekey

Hardening features in the systemd unit:

• NoNewPrivileges=true — cannot escalate
• ProtectSystem=strict — read-only filesystem (except /opt/hirekey)
• PrivateTmp=true — isolated temp directory
• ReadWritePaths=/opt/hirekey — only app dir is writable

Scaling Considerations

• Stateless app layer — multiple hirekey-app instances behind a load balancer work identically. Session state lives in MongoDB, not memory.
• MongoDB — use a replica set for production. The app uses a single connection URI that supports failover.
• Connection pooling — the mongo-driver handles pooling internally. Tune via MONGO_URI parameters (maxPoolSize, minPoolSize) if needed.
• Story garbage collection — runs every 5 minutes in a goroutine. For high-traffic, consider moving to a dedicated worker process or MongoDB TTL index.

Logging & Monitoring

• Application logs — written to stderr, collected by systemd journal or Docker logging driver.
• Structured log entries via log.Printf with severity context (errors include the error object).
• MongoDB slow queries — monitor with db.collection.find(...).explain("executionStats").
• Process metrics — add a /metrics endpoint by wiring in prometheus/client_golang for Go runtime stats (goroutines, heap, etc.).

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Project Structure

hirekey/
├── cmd/server/main.go         # Entry point
├── src/
│   ├── api.go                 # API handlers 
│   ├── chat.go                # Chat message endpoints
│   ├── login.go               # Auth middleware, session mgmt
│   ├── web.go                 # HTTP routing, template serving
│   ├── env.go                 # Runtime configuration
│   ├── utils.go               # Input sanitization
│   ├── utils_api.go           # Profile resolution, JSON helpers
│   ├── types_*.go             # Type definitions (22 files)
│   ├── mock_*.go              # Mock data seeding
│   ├── templates/             # HTML templates
│   └── static/                # CSS, JS, images, fonts, PWA
├── deploy/
│   ├── hirekey.service        # Systemd unit
│   └── hirekey-nginx.conf     # Reverse proxy config
├── docker-compose.yml         # Multi-service deployment
├── Dockerfile                 # Multi-stage build
├── Makefile                   # Build/run/deploy commands
├── .gitignore
├── go.mod
├── go.sum
└── README.md

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License

CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for personal and educational use. Commercial licensing available on request.