HackMatch

Hackathon teammate matching platform — React frontend + Express backend + Supabase PostgreSQL.

What you need to provide (Supabase setup)

Create a free project at supabase.com, then give yourself these values in backend/.env:

Variable	Where to find it
DATABASE_URL	Project Settings → Database → Connection string → URI (use Session pooler for production, Direct for local dev)
JWT_SECRET	Generate any long random string (e.g. openssl rand -hex 32)
CORS_ORIGIN	Your frontend URL, e.g. http://localhost:5173

Optional (for future Supabase Auth / Storage / Realtime):

Variable	Where to find it
SUPABASE_URL	Project Settings → API → Project URL
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY	Project Settings → API → service_role (keep secret, server-only)

Setup steps

1. Copy env files:

   cp backend/.env.example backend/.env
   cp react-frontend/.env.example react-frontend/.env

2. Paste your DATABASE_URL into backend/.env.

3. Run the schema (either way):

   • Auto: Start the backend — it runs schema.sql on boot.
   • Manual: Paste supabase/migrations/00001_init.sql into Supabase SQL Editor → Run.

4. Seed demo users (optional):

   cd backend && npm run seed

   Log in with alice@example.com / password123.

5. Run dev:

   make dev

Stack Clash (chat unlock)

Before encrypted chat opens, both teammates must submit a valid solution to the same coding challenge (picked per connection). Challenges include:

• Return True, Sum Two Numbers, Reverse String, FizzBuzz, First Element, Is Even

Users can click Reveal Answer to see the reference solution if stuck.

Environment reference

Backend (backend/.env)

Variable	Required	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes	Supabase PostgreSQL connection URI
JWT_SECRET	Yes	Token signing secret
CORS_ORIGIN	Yes	Frontend origin
PORT	No	Default 5000
DATABASE_SSL	No	Default true

Frontend (react-frontend/.env)

Variable	Description
VITE_API_URL	Backend URL, e.g. http://localhost:5000

Deploy

• Backend: Railway, Render, Fly.io (set DATABASE_URL + env vars)
• Frontend: Vercel (VITE_API_URL → your API)