Breaktime

A Progressive Web App (PWA) for scheduling and messaging between youth (YA) users and staff at Breaktime. Built by JumboCode 2025–2026.

Project Manager: Luis Suarez | Technical Lead: Yoda Ermias | Designer: Allen Wang

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 18, Vite, Tailwind CSS, React Router, Clerk
Backend	Node.js, Express 5, MongoDB, Clerk
Auth	Clerk (permission levels stored in user metadata)
Deployment	Vercel (both sides have vercel.json)

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Project Structure

breaktime/
├── backend/          Express API
├── frontend/
│   └── breaktime/    React + Vite app
└── package.json      Root monorepo scripts

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Backend

backend/src/
├── app.js            Express app setup (CORS, routes)
├── server.js         Entry point
├── routes/           One file per entity
├── schemas/          Joi validation schemas
└── utils/
    ├── mongodb.js    Singleton DB connection
    ├── clerk.js      Clerk client init
    └── api.js        Shared API helpers

API Routes

Route	Description
/user	Create and fetch youth (YA) accounts
/staff	Create staff accounts
/admin	Approve/deny pending accounts, list all users
/booking	CRUD for bookings and booking history
/service	Service definitions and availability
/serviceExtension	Extended service configuration
/notification	Inbox, message threads, mark-read

Databases (MongoDB)

Database	Purpose
requests	Pending account and booking extension approvals
services	Service definitions and bookings
notifications	Inbox messages and notifications

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Frontend

frontend/breaktime/src/
├── App.jsx               Router + Clerk provider + ModalProvider
├── pages/                Full page components (desktop)
│   └── mobile/           Mobile-optimized page variants
├── components/           Reusable UI (NavBar, Calendar, Inbox, etc.)
│   ├── popups/           Modal dialogs (staff booking, YA booking, messaging)
│   └── mobile/           Mobile-specific components (tabs, bottom sheets)
└── utils/
    ├── ProtectedRoute.jsx    Auth guard (checks Clerk + permission level)
    ├── general.js            API call helpers
    └── errorMessages.js      Centralized error text

Role-Based Routing

After login, HomeChooser.jsx reads user.publicMetadata.permission from Clerk and routes accordingly:

Permission	Role	Destination
0	Pending	Blocked / redirected
1	Youth (YA)	YouthLandingPage (desktop) or YouthLandingPageMobile (mobile)
2	Staff	HomePage (calendar, booking management, user table, inbox)

Mobile is detected via user-agent string or window width < 1025px.

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Getting Started

Prerequisites: Node.js, a MongoDB Atlas URI, and Clerk API keys.

1. Install dependencies

npm run install

2. Set up environment variables

backend/.env:

MONGODB_URI=
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=

frontend/breaktime/.env:

VITE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=

3. Run in development mode

npm run dev   # starts either the backend or frontend depending on the current directory

You can also run them separately:

npm run backend    # Express on port 3000
npm run frontend   # Vite dev server

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Deployment

Both backend/ and frontend/breaktime/ have vercel.json configs. Deploy each as a separate Vercel project. After deploying the backend, update VITE_BASE_URL in the frontend environment to point at the live backend URL.

The current active link for the application is https://breaktime-lemon.vercel.app/