Community-Resource-Forum

DevDogs' 2025-2026 project: a community forum website for computer science students at UGA.

Welcome to the DevDogs Community Resource Forum project!

We’re excited to have you here! If you’re interested in contributing to our project, please request to join the 2025-2026 Project Contributers team here and join our Discord server. If you're a new member or want a refresher, check out our wiki!

Getting Started

1. Join the Team: Request to join the 2025-2026 Project Contributor team on our GitHub Organization.
2. Review Issues: Check the Issues tab to see what work needs to be done.
3. Fork the Repository: Create a fork of this repository to work on your own copy of the code. Assign yourself an issue to work on.
4. Clone the Repository: Use Git or GitHub Desktop to clone your forked repository to your local machine.
5. Work on the Issue: Complete the tasks associated with your assigned issue.
6. Push Changes: Push your local changes to your forked GitHub repository.
7. Create a Pull Request: Once your work is complete, submit a pull request (PR) to the original repository. Be sure to document your changes thoroughly and include any relevant screenshots.

Docker (local development / quick start)

This project supports running locally with Docker Compose. The repository includes a .env.example you can copy to .env.

1. Copy .env.example to .env and fill values (do not commit .env):

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add secrets

2. Generate an AUTH_SECRET for NextAuth (required):

npx auth secret
# Copy the output into AUTH_SECRET in .env

3. OAuth client secret: create a Google OAuth client in Google Cloud Console and set AUTH_GOOGLE_ID and AUTH_GOOGLE_SECRET in .env.

4. Start services (Compose will load .env automatically):

docker compose up -d --build

5. Open http://localhost:3000. To stop:

docker compose down

Notes

• .env is ignored by Docker build and git (safe). Compose injects env values at runtime via env_file.
• For production, use a secret manager or Docker secrets instead of a local .env file.

Important: Always sync your forked repository with the original before starting any new coding session, and pull the latest changes to your local machine.