🚀 GitExplorer – MERN GitHub Explorer App

GitExplorer is a full-stack MERN application that allows users to explore GitHub profiles and repositories, authenticate using GitHub OAuth, like other users' profiles, discover popular repositories by programming language, and chat in real-time with other users. This project is built with production-grade authentication, API handling, real-time communication, and deployment using modern best practices.

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✨ Features

• 🔐 GitHub OAuth Authentication (Passport.js)
• 👤 View any GitHub user’s profile and repositories
• ⭐ Like other users’ profiles (stored in MongoDB)
• ❤️ View profiles that liked you
• 🔍 Explore trending repositories by language
• ⚡ Authenticated GitHub API requests (avoids rate limits)
• 💬 Real-time chat system (Socket.io)
• 🌐 Fully deployed (Frontend + Backend)
• 🧠 Clean architecture with controllers, routes, and middleware

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🛠 Tech Stack

Frontend

• React (Vite)
• Tailwind CSS
• React Router
• React Hot Toast

Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js
• MongoDB + Mongoose
• Passport.js (GitHub OAuth)
• GitHub REST API

Deployment

• Frontend: Vercel
• Backend: Render
• Database: MongoDB Atlas

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🌍 Live URLs

• Frontend:

   https://git-explorer-soriful-islam-sks-projects.vercel.app/
  

• Backend API:

  https://gitexplorer-backend-2xtf.onrender.com
  

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🔐 Environment Variables

Backend (Render)

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your_github_oauth_client_id
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=your_github_oauth_client_secret
GITHUB_API_KEY=your_github_personal_access_token
CLIENT_BASE_URL=https://git-explorer-dbamvbh4o-soriful-islam-sks-projects.vercel.app
SESSION_SECRET=any_long_random_secret

Frontend (Vercel)

VITE_API_BASE_URL=https://gitexplorer-backend-2xtf.onrender.com

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🔑 GitHub Token Requirements

You need two different GitHub credentials:

1. GitHub OAuth App

   • Used for login
   • Provides GITHUB_CLIENT_ID and GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET

2. GitHub Personal Access Token (Classic)

   • Used to fetch GitHub API data

   • Scopes required:

     • read:user
     • public_repo

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🧩 API Endpoints

Authentication

GET /api/auth/github
GET /api/auth/github/callback
GET /api/auth/check
GET /api/auth/logout

Users

GET  /api/users/profile/:username
POST /api/users/like/:username
GET  /api/users/likes

Explore

GET /api/explore/repos/:language

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🧪 Running Locally

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/emcc2302/GitExplorer.git
cd GitExplorer

2️⃣ Install dependencies

cd backend
npm install

cd ../frontend
npm install

3️⃣ Add .env files (see above)

4️⃣ Start the app

# Backend
cd backend
npm run dev

# Frontend
cd frontend
npm run dev

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📸 Screenshots

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📌 Learning Outcomes

• GitHub OAuth with Passport.js
• Secure session handling across domains
• Handling third-party APIs safely
• CORS & cookies in production
• Environment-based configuration
• Real-world deployment debugging

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🧑‍💻 Author

Soriful Islam Sk 3rd Year CSE Student Aliah University

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⭐ Acknowledgements

• GitHub REST API
• Passport.js Documentation
• Render & Vercel Docs