The SIM Website (Studio for Interrelated Media)

This is the official platform for the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) program at MassArt. It serves as a digital directory, a collaborative calendar for Thursday class meetings, and an academic record-keeping system for faculty to track student progress.

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Setting up your developer environment.

Follow these steps to get your local environment running:

1. Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js 20+
• npm (The project uses package-lock.json)
• PostgreSQL 14+

2. Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/aefader00/sim-next-app.git
cd sim-next-app

# Install dependencies
npm install

3. Automated Setup

To configure your .env and database quickly, run the interactive setup script:

npm run setup

What does setup.ts do?

1. Creates your .env file from the template .env.example
2. Generates a unique NEXTAUTH_SECRET automatically.
3. Prompts for Google OAuth credentials and tests your PostgreSQL connection.
4. Automatically synchronizes the database schema and seeds your first admin user and semester.

4. Launch

npm run dev

Access the app at http://localhost:3000.

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Project Anatomy

The codebase follows modern Next.js patterns, separating concerns between data mutation, UI components, and routing.

src/ Directory Breakdown

• actions/: Contains Next.js Server Actions for all database mutations. This is where business logic for creating users, updating semesters, and managing "Thursdays" lives.
• app/: The pages of the website
  • admin/: Restricted tools for faculty management.
  • thursdays/: The central calendar system.
  • users/: Student/Faculty directory.
• components/: The user interface elements that make up the pages.
  • domain/: Components tied to specific data types (e.g., a "User Card").
  • forms/: Complex input logic handled with react-hook-form and zod.
  • ui/: Design system primitives (built on top of Ant Design).
• hooks/: Shared client-side behavior, such as useURLFilter for real-time dashboard filtering.
• setup.ts: A dedicated utility to bridge the gap between a fresh clone and a working development environment.

Database Architecture

• Prisma: Used as the ORM. The schema is defined in database/schema.prisma.
• Seeding: database/seed.ts programmatically generates the "Thursday" schedule based on your semester start/end dates, ensuring you don't have to manually create 15+ calendar entries every term.

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Maintenance & Production

Deployment Workflow

For production environments (e.g., Ubuntu 24+ with Nginx):

# Update and build
git pull
npm install
npx prisma migrate deploy
npm run build

# Restart the service
pm2 restart massartsim

Process Management

The application uses PM2 for process management.

• Check Status: pm2 list
• View Logs: pm2 logs massartsim --lines 50
• Environment Updates: pm2 restart massartsim --update-env

Database Backups

Always back up the database before manual edits or migrations:

pg_dump -U sim sim > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

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aculty Guide

Managing Users

• Authentication: Users log in via Google. Security is handled via whitelisting. An admin must add a user's email to the system before they can log in.
• Profiles: Every user requires a name, pronouns, and a face photo for the directory.

Managing Semesters & Thursdays

1. Create a Semester: Set the name (e.g., "FA26") and the date range.
2. Automated Generation: The system automatically calculates every Thursday in that range.
3. Production Days:
   • Big Production Day: Defaults to a "Pozen Center" location.
   • Small Production Day: Standard classroom presentations.
4. Student Progress: The Admin Dashboard automatically tallies "Works Made" and "Groups Produced" for every student in a given semester, simplifying end-of-term grading.

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For technical issues, contact the system administrator or refer to the setup.ts logic.