CareToShare

A full-stack platform for students to share and discover study materials.

CareToShare combines a React interface with an Express API and MongoDB. Google OAuth provides sign-in, while files are stored in each user’s own Google Drive rather than a central file server.

Web app · Author

Features

• Google sign-in and user profiles.
• Uploads and category-based browsing across seven file types.
• Search over file metadata and users.
• Download and view instrumentation.
• Responsive interface with React, Tailwind CSS, and Framer Motion.

Architecture

React client → Express API → MongoDB metadata
                    ↓
            User-owned Google Drive files

Path	Purpose
client/	React web client
server/	Express API, authentication, and file-sharing backend
mobile/	Mobile-related source
render.yaml	Deployment configuration

Development

Requirements: Node.js, MongoDB (local or Atlas), and a Google Cloud project with OAuth credentials and the Google Drive API enabled.

git clone https://github.com/asadsehto/CareToShare.git
cd CareToShare
npm run install:all

Create client/.env:

VITE_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-google-client-id

Create server/.env:

PORT=5000
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/caretoshare
JWT_SECRET=replace-with-a-strong-random-secret
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-google-client-id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-google-client-secret

Configure the Google OAuth consent screen and match allowed origins/redirects to the application’s implemented flow. The existing setup uses user-info and Drive file scopes; confirm the client/server URLs against your configuration. Keep environment files out of Git.

Start MongoDB if using a local database, then run:

npm run dev

The project’s development instructions use client port 3000 and server port 5000. You can also run each service separately with npm run dev in client/ and server/.

API overview

Area	Routes
Authentication	POST /api/auth/google/token
File lists	GET /api/files/recent, /popular, /category, /my-files
File operations	GET /api/files/:id, POST /api/files/upload, POST /api/files/:id/download, DELETE /api/files/:id
Profiles	PUT /api/users/profile, GET /api/users/:id
Search	GET /api/search?q=query
Statistics	GET /api/stats

Deployment

Build the client with npm run build in client/, deploy its dist/ output, and configure VITE_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID. Deploy the server with its MongoDB, JWT, and Google environment variables. Update OAuth origins and redirects for the deployed application.

Usage

1. Sign in with Google.
2. Upload study material and its metadata.
3. Browse categories or search.
4. View uploader profiles and download available materials.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. For authentication or upload bugs, include reproduction steps without credentials or private files.

Author

Asad Saleem · LinkedIn