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Anonymous Feedback System

Web platform for sending, storing, and managing anonymous comments. It is built with native PHP in a modular structure, uses PostgreSQL for persistence and audit logging, and uses Redis to enforce submission rate limiting while preserving anonymity.

🚀 Description

The project allows any unauthenticated user to submit feedback anonymously. The administrator (Owner) accesses a secure dashboard to review messages, change statuses, and manage records. The system does not store IP addresses in plain text and uses Redis for temporary submission rate limiting.

Note

🚧 Work in Progress
This project is currently in an active development and refactoring phase. The base architecture, PostgreSQL/Redis schemas, and flowcharts are already structured, but the complete source code continues to receive regular updates.

🧩 Technologies used

  • PHP 8.1+
  • PostgreSQL 13+
  • Redis 6+
  • Composer
  • PHPUnit
  • FastRoute
  • PHP-DI
  • Symfony HttpFoundation

🧾 Behavior details

  • Feedback submissions are anonymous and do not require authentication.
  • The administrator can access the protected interface to read and manage messages.
  • Feedback status changes are audited in feedback_records using a PostgreSQL trigger.
  • Redis applies a rate limit to submissions (maximum 10 messages per 10 minutes per anonymous identifier).

🛠 Prerequisites

Make sure the following system and PHP dependencies are installed:

  • PHP >= 8.4 with extensions: pdo_pgsql, redis, mbstring, json, xml
  • Composer >= 2.0
  • PostgreSQL >= 13
  • Redis Server >= 6.0
  • php-cli, php-xml, php-mbstring, php-pgsql, php-curl
  • unzip, curl, postgresql-contrib, redis-server

📦 Project dependencies

This project uses PHP dependencies installed with Composer to support the architecture and testing:

  • FastRoute — HTTP request routing and route handling.
  • PHP-DI — dependency injection to decouple controllers, repositories, and services.
  • Symfony HttpFoundation — abstraction layer for HTTP requests and responses.
  • PHPUnit — testing framework to validate backend behavior.

🧭 What each technology does in this project

  • PHP: server-side language that processes incoming requests, validates forms, executes business logic, and generates HTTP responses.
  • PostgreSQL: stores the system's persistent information: users, feedbacks, states, and change audit logs. The feedback_state_change() trigger maintains the state change history in feedback_records.
  • Redis: in-memory service that controls anonymous submission frequency with rate limiting, without persisting IP addresses or sensitive sender data.

📁 Folder structure (placeholder)

  • docs/ – project documentation.
  • scripts/ – scripts to manage PostgreSQL, Redis, and setup.
  • src/ – TBD
  • schema.sql – table definitions, relationships, and audit trigger.
  • seed.sql – initial database data.
  • .env.example – environment variable template.
  • composer.json - configuration file where project dependencies and versions are defined.
  • composer.lock - handles "freezing" and registering the exact versions of dependencies.

⚙️ Environment configuration

Copy .env.example to .env and complete the values for your environment:

DATABASE_NAME=
DATABASE_USER=
DATABASE_PASSWORD=
DATABASE_PORT=
REDIS_PORT=

🧪 Quick installation

  1. Install system dependencies (the scripts/setup.sh script installs common Debian/Ubuntu packages):
bash scripts/setup.sh
  1. Install PHP dependencies with Composer:
composer install

🗄️ PostgreSQL configuration

1. Create the database and the user

Access PostgreSQL as the superuser:

sudo -u postgres psql

Create the database and application user:

CREATE DATABASE <database_name>;
CREATE USER <database_user> WITH PASSWORD '<secure_password>';

2. Grant permissions

GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE <database_name> TO <database_user>;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO <database_user>;
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO <database_user>;
GRANT USAGE, SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO <database_user>;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON TABLES TO <database_user>;
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT USAGE, SELECT ON ALL SEQUENCES TO <database_user>;

3. Run the schema and initial data

Connect to the database and apply the schema:

psql -h 127.0.0.1 -U <database_user> -d <database_name> -f schema.sql

If you want to preload initial data:

psql -h 127.0.0.1 -U <database_user> -d <database_name> -f seed.sql

🔥 Redis configuration

This project uses Redis to control the rate of message submissions. The scripts/redis.sh script can start, stop, and check the service.

Start Redis:

bash scripts/redis.sh --start

Check status:

bash scripts/redis.sh --status

Enter the Redis CLI:

bash scripts/redis.sh --cli

🧭 Usage

  1. Start PostgreSQL:
bash scripts/database.sh --start
  1. Start Redis:
bash scripts/redis.sh --start
  1. Run your PHP server or the local development server according to the application configuration.

📌 Notes

  • Make sure .env contains the correct values before starting the application.
  • The audit trigger feedback_state_change() records state changes in feedback_records.
  • The system is designed to preserve anonymity and not persist identity-linked data associated with messages.