Catalyse

Volunteer & Project Matching Platform for PauseAI UK

Catalyse connects volunteers with projects, matching skills to needs and enabling effective coordination across PauseAI UK initiatives.

Features

For Volunteers

• Browse Projects - Filter by skills, status, urgency
• Skill Matching - See how well your skills match each project
• Express Interest - Apply to contribute or lead projects
• Personal Dashboard - Track your projects and interests
• Privacy Controls - Choose what info to share and how

For Project Owners

• Post Projects - Describe needs, required skills, time commitment
• Find Volunteers - See interested volunteers and their skills
• Team Communication - Contact volunteers through the platform

For Admins

• Project Triage - Review and approve volunteer proposals
• Create Org Projects - Post official PauseAI initiatives
• Platform Stats - Monitor volunteer and project activity

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js (App Router), React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Next.js API routes
• Database: SQLite via Prisma ORM
• Email: Resend SDK
• Auth: Custom token-based + Google OAuth
• Hosting: Railway

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• npm

Installation

npm run local-setup

This installs dependencies, Playwright browsers, downloads the anonymised prod database, and runs migrations.

Environment

Copy .env.local.example to .env.local and fill in the values:

cp .env.local.example .env.local

Key variables:

• DATABASE_URL — path to SQLite file (e.g. file:../catalyse.db)
• RESEND_API_KEY — for email sending
• GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID / GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET — for Google OAuth
• STUB_EMAIL=true — suppress real emails in development

Running

npm run dev

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

First-Time Setup

To make yourself an admin, add your email to .env.local:

ADMIN_EMAILS=your@email.com

On next login, the app will automatically grant admin access. Multiple emails can be comma-separated.

Database & Migrations

Local dev database

The local dev database (db/anonymised_prod.db) is a fresh copy of prod with PII anonymised. Refresh it with:

npm run fetch-prod-db && npm run migrate

fetch-prod-db downloads the latest prod backup and anonymises it. migrate runs prisma migrate deploy, which applies any unapplied migration files in order without drift-checking.

Adding a migration

Do not use prisma migrate dev — it checks for schema drift against the live DB and will fail. The correct workflow:

1. Edit prisma/schema.prisma
2. Generate the migration file:

   npm run new-migration your_migration_name

   This creates prisma/migrations/YYYYMMDDHHMMSS_your_migration_name/migration.sql with the diff SQL.
3. Review the generated SQL — the diff may include unrelated pending changes from other branches. Remove any statements not relevant to your change.
4. Apply it:

   npm run migrate

5. Regenerate the Prisma client:

   npx prisma generate

Testing

Running tests

npm test               # Run all e2e tests headlessly
npm run test:headed    # Run with a visible browser (single worker, slowed)
npm run test:ui        # Open Playwright UI mode

Tests spin up an isolated Next.js server with a fresh database — your dev server doesn't need to be running.

The test:dev variants skip the build and use a dev server instead. These are for interactive development only — do not use them to verify correctness, as they skip type checking and build validation.

Scripts Reference

Script	Description
local-setup	One-time local setup: install deps, browsers, fetch prod DB, run migrations
issue <number>	Launch a sandboxed Claude session to work on a GitHub issue (creates branch, fetches issue, restricts CLI access). Usage: npm run issue -- 84
check-all	Run typecheck, lint, format check, and tests — use before committing
dev	Start local dev server with Turbopack
build	Generate Prisma client and run Next.js production build
start	Start production server (requires prior build)
typecheck	Run TypeScript type checking without emitting files
lint	Run ESLint
lint:fix	Run ESLint with auto-fix
format	Format all files with Prettier
format:check	Check formatting without writing
generate	Regenerate Prisma client and run post-generation script
build:railway	Production build entrypoint used by Railway CI
new-migration	Create a new migration SQL file from schema diff
migrate	Apply pending migration files to the local database
fetch-prod-db	Download latest prod backup and anonymise PII for local use
install:browsers	Install Playwright's Chromium browser
test	Run all e2e tests (builds first, then spins up isolated servers)
test:dev	Run e2e tests against a dev server — skips build, for interactive development only
test:log	Run tests and save full output to test-output.txt
test:headed	Run tests with a visible browser, single worker
test:ui	Open Playwright UI mode for interactive test debugging
cron:backup	Run the database backup cron job
demo	Run the demo data seeding script
demo:snapshot	Take a snapshot of the current demo state
demo:compare	Compare current demo state against snapshot

Project Structure

catalyse/
├── app/                    # App Router pages and API routes
├── components/             # Shared React components
├── lib/                    # Auth, email, Prisma, utilities
├── prisma/                 # Prisma schema and migrations
├── public/                 # Static assets
├── scripts/                # Build and utility scripts
└── e2e/                    # Playwright end-to-end tests

License

MIT - Built for PauseAI UK