Alma Connect — Alumni Association Platform

Alma Connect is a full-stack alumni association platform designed to bridge the gap between students, alumni, and institutions. Built as part of the Smart India Hackathon (SIH), it provides a centralized hub for networking, mentorship, event management, fundraising, and AI-powered career guidance.

Features

Authentication & Authorization

User registration with role selection (Student / Alumni / Admin)
Secure login with JWT-based authentication
Role-based access control (RBAC) via middleware
Password hashing with bcrypt

User Profiles

Detailed profiles with education, skills, experience, and current job
AI-powered resume parsing — upload a PDF resume and auto-populate profile fields using OpenAI
Follow / unfollow system to build your network
User directory for browsing all registered members

Real-Time Chat

Socket.IO-powered instant messaging between users
Private chat rooms with message persistence in MongoDB
Users list sidebar to select and start conversations

Video Calling

Peer-to-peer video calls via WebRTC signaling through Socket.IO
Join video rooms and connect with other users in real time

Event Management

Create and browse events (Hackathons, Seminars, TED Talks, Workshops)
RSVP / attend events
Event detail pages with attendee lists

Donation & Fundraising

Create fundraising campaigns (Student Aid, University, Event)
Donate to campaigns with Razorpay payment integration
Track campaign progress with target and current amount
Donation confirmation and receipt tracking

AI-Powered Career Guidance

Personalized career roadmaps generated using OpenAI GPT
Input your education, skills, interests, and career goals
Get actionable advice: diagnosis, roadmap, project ideas, networking actions, and resources
Fallback advice when API is unavailable

AI Chatbot (Alma Connect Assistant)

Conversational chatbot powered by Google Gemini 2.5 Flash
Context-aware responses scoped to the Alma Connect platform
Role-specific guidance for students, alumni, and admins
Privacy-conscious — never stores sensitive user data

Notifications

In-app notification system for event updates and platform activity
Mark notifications as read

Admin Dashboard

View platform-wide statistics (total users, events, fundraises)
User directory management

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 19, React Router v6, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap 5, Framer Motion, Lucide Icons
Backend	Node.js, Express 5, Socket.IO
Database	MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
Auth	JSON Web Tokens (JWT), bcryptjs
AI/ML	OpenAI GPT (career guidance & resume parsing), Google Gemini (chatbot)
Payments	Razorpay
Real-time	Socket.IO (chat & video signaling)
File Upload	Multer, pdf-parse

Project Structure

alumni-sih-master/
├── api/                        # Backend (Express.js server)
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── db.js               # MongoDB connection setup
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── authController.js       # Register & login logic
│   │   ├── alumniController.js     # Profile, resume upload, follow/unfollow
│   │   ├── eventController.js      # Event CRUD operations
│   │   ├── chatController.js       # Chat message retrieval
│   │   ├── chatbot.controller.js   # Gemini AI chatbot
│   │   ├── donationController.js   # Campaign & Razorpay donation
│   │   ├── guidanceController.js   # AI career guidance (OpenAI)
│   │   ├── notificationController.js
│   │   └── adminController.js      # Admin dashboard stats
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   ├── authMiddleware.js       # JWT verification
│   │   └── adminMiddleware.js      # Admin role check
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── User.js                 # User schema (student/alumni/admin)
│   │   ├── Event.js                # Event schema
│   │   ├── Message.js              # Chat message schema
│   │   ├── Donation.js             # Individual donation records
│   │   ├── DonationCampaign.js     # Fundraising campaign schema
│   │   ├── Notification.js         # Notification schema
│   │   └── Admin.js                # Admin stats schema
│   ├── routes/                 # Express route definitions
│   ├── server.js               # Entry point — Express + Socket.IO
│   ├── package.json
│   └── nodemon.json
│
├── client/                     # Frontend (React app)
│   ├── public/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   │   ├── AdminDashboard.js   # Admin analytics panel
│   │   │   ├── AlumniChatbot.js    # Gemini-powered chatbot widget
│   │   │   ├── Chat.js             # Real-time chat interface
│   │   │   ├── VideoCall.js        # WebRTC video calling
│   │   │   ├── UsersList.js        # User directory sidebar
│   │   │   ├── ResumeUpload.js     # PDF resume upload & parse
│   │   │   ├── Navigation.js       # Navbar component
│   │   │   ├── FundRequestManager.js
│   │   │   ├── FloatingChatWidget.js
│   │   │   └── ui/                 # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── pages/
│   │   │   ├── Landing.js          # Public landing page
│   │   │   ├── Home.js             # Authenticated home page
│   │   │   ├── Login.js            # Login form
│   │   │   ├── Register.js         # Registration form
│   │   │   ├── Profile.js          # User profile editor
│   │   │   ├── UserProfile.js      # View other user's profile
│   │   │   ├── Events.js           # Event listing page
│   │   │   ├── EventDetails.js     # Single event details
│   │   │   ├── Fundraising.js      # Donation campaigns page
│   │   │   ├── Guidance.js         # AI career guidance page
│   │   │   ├── Notifications.js    # Notifications page
│   │   │   ├── Learnmore.js        # About / learn more page
│   │   │   └── Dashboard.js        # Dashboard page
│   │   ├── assets/             # Images, videos
│   │   ├── styles/             # CSS stylesheets
│   │   ├── hooks/              # Custom React hooks
│   │   ├── lib/                # Utility libraries
│   │   ├── utils/              # Helper functions
│   │   └── App.js              # Root component with routing
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── tailwind.config.js
│   └── postcss.config.js
│
└── .gitignore

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed on your system:

Software	Version	Download Link
Node.js	v18 or later	nodejs.org
npm	v9 or later	Comes with Node.js
MongoDB	v6 or later	mongodb.com
Git	Latest	git-scm.com

Installation & Setup

1. Clone the Repository

After Cloning Run this command ..

cd alumni-sih/alumni-sih-master

2. Install Backend Dependencies

cd api
npm install

3. Install Frontend Dependencies

cd ../client
npm install

4. Set Up MongoDB

Make sure MongoDB is running locally on mongodb://localhost:27017. The app will automatically create the alumni-sih-db database.

Option A — Run MongoDB locally:

mongod

Option B — Use MongoDB Atlas (cloud): Update the MONGO_URI in your .env file with your Atlas connection string.

Environment Variables

Create a .env file inside the api/ directory:

cd api
touch .env    # or create manually on Windows

Add the following variables:

# Server
PORT=3000

# Database
MONGO_URI= MongoDB Connection String

# Authentication
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret_here

# OpenAI (for resume parsing & career guidance)
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here

# Razorpay (for donation payments) — optional
RAZORPAY_KEY_ID=your_razorpay_key_id
RAZORPAY_KEY_SECRET=your_razorpay_key_secret

Running the Application

Start the Backend Server

cd api
npm run dev      # Uses nodemon for auto-reload
# OR
npm start        # Production mode

The API server starts at http://localhost:3000.

Start the Frontend Dev Server

Open a new terminal:

cd client
npm start

The React app starts at http://localhost:3001 (or the next available port).

Quick Start (Both Servers)

You can run both servers simultaneously in separate terminals:

Terminal 1 (Backend)	Terminal 2 (Frontend)
`cd api && npm run dev`	`cd client && npm start`

API Endpoints

Authentication

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
POST	`/api/auth/register`	Register a new user	❌
POST	`/api/auth/login`	Login & get JWT token	❌

Alumni / Users

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	`/api/alumni/users`	List all users	✅
GET	`/api/alumni/:id`	Get user profile by ID	✅
PUT	`/api/alumni/me`	Update current user's profile	✅
POST	`/api/alumni/upload-resume`	Upload & parse resume (PDF)	✅
POST	`/api/alumni/parse-resume`	Parse resume without saving	❌
POST	`/api/alumni/follow/:id`	Toggle follow/unfollow a user	✅

Events

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	`/api/events`	List all events	✅
POST	`/api/events`	Create a new event	✅
GET	`/api/events/:id`	Get event details	✅
POST	`/api/events/:id/attend`	RSVP to an event	✅

Donations

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	`/api/donation/campaigns`	List all campaigns	✅
POST	`/api/donation/campaigns`	Create a new campaign	✅
GET	`/api/donation/campaigns/:id`	Get campaign details	✅
POST	`/api/donation/campaigns/:id/donate`	Initiate a donation	✅
POST	`/api/donation/confirm`	Confirm payment	✅

Career Guidance

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
POST	`/api/guidance`	Get AI-generated career guidance	✅

Chatbot

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
POST	`/api/chatbot`	Chat with the AI assistant	❌

Notifications

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	`/api/notification`	Get user notifications	✅
PUT	`/api/notification/:id`	Mark as read	✅

Admin Dashboard

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth Required
GET	`/api/dashboard/stats`	Get platform statistics	✅ (Admin)

User Roles

Role	Capabilities
Student	View profiles, chat, video call, attend events, donate, get career guidance, use chatbot
Alumni	All student features + create events, create campaigns, mentor students
Admin	User directory management, view platform stats, moderate content

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how to get involved:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
Push to the branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
Open a Pull Request

Please make sure to:

Follow existing code style and conventions
Update documentation for any new features
Test your changes before submitting

Acknowledgments

Built for Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025
Powered by OpenAI and Google Gemini
Payment processing by Razorpay
Real-time communication via Socket.IO

Made with ❤️ by Team Alma Connect

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 5 Commits
api		api
client		client
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

Alma Connect — Alumni Association Platform

Table of Contents

Features

Authentication & Authorization

User Profiles

Real-Time Chat

Video Calling

Event Management

Donation & Fundraising

AI-Powered Career Guidance

AI Chatbot (Alma Connect Assistant)

Notifications

Admin Dashboard

Tech Stack

Project Structure

Prerequisites

Installation & Setup

1. Clone the Repository

2. Install Backend Dependencies

3. Install Frontend Dependencies

4. Set Up MongoDB

Environment Variables

Running the Application

Start the Backend Server

Start the Frontend Dev Server

Quick Start (Both Servers)

API Endpoints

Authentication

Alumni / Users

Events

Donations

Career Guidance

Chatbot

Notifications

Admin Dashboard

User Roles

Contributing

Acknowledgments

About

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages