SafeGuard

SafeGuard is a portfolio-focused MERN and React Native project for learning full-stack application development through a personal safety emergency-assistance app.

This project is not intended for real emergency use. It is a learning project designed to practice clean architecture, API design, MongoDB modeling, React, React Native, testing, documentation, and Git workflow.

Goals

• Strengthen MongoDB, Express, React, React Native, and Node.js skills.
• Practice professional project organization in a monorepo.
• Build an interview-friendly portfolio project.
• Learn REST APIs, JWT authentication, Socket.io, file uploads, and testing incrementally.
• Keep the architecture understandable and maintainable without unnecessary enterprise patterns.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js, JavaScript
• Database: MongoDB, Mongoose
• Authentication: JWT, bcrypt
• Realtime: Socket.io
• Storage: Cloudinary
• Dashboard: React, Vite, Material UI, JavaScript
• Mobile: React Native, JavaScript
• Testing: Jest, Supertest
• Tooling: ESLint, Prettier, Git

Folder Structure

SafeGuard/
  backend/    Express API, Mongoose models, services, middleware, and tests
  dashboard/  React + Vite web dashboard
  mobile/     React Native mobile application
  docs/       Architecture, API, database, setup, and decision documentation

Roadmap

1. Project foundation
2. Backend foundation
3. Authentication
4. User profile and embedded emergency contacts
5. Emergency sessions
6. Location history
7. Realtime Socket.io updates
8. Evidence uploads with Cloudinary
9. React dashboard MVP
10. React Native mobile MVP
11. Deployment, smoke tests, and portfolio polish

Setup

Install dependencies from each workspace:

npm install
npm --prefix backend install
npm --prefix dashboard install
npm --prefix mobile install

Copy environment examples before running future milestones:

cp backend/.env.example backend/.env
cp dashboard/.env.example dashboard/.env
cp mobile/.env.example mobile/.env

Development commands:

npm run backend:dev
npm run dashboard:dev
npm run mobile:start
npm run mobile:android

For Android emulator testing, the mobile app uses http://10.0.2.2:5000 to reach the local backend running on your development machine.

Backend health check:

curl http://localhost:5000/api/health

Deployment smoke test:

npm run smoke:deployment

The deployed backend currently runs at:

https://safeguard-bi4x.onrender.com

Deployment instructions are maintained in docs/deployment.md.

Authentication endpoints:

POST /api/auth/register
POST /api/auth/login
GET /api/auth/me

User profile and contact endpoints:

GET /api/users/me
PATCH /api/users/me
GET /api/users/me/contacts
POST /api/users/me/contacts
PATCH /api/users/me/contacts/:contactId
DELETE /api/users/me/contacts/:contactId

Emergency session endpoints:

POST /api/emergencies
GET /api/emergencies/active
GET /api/emergencies
GET /api/emergencies/:emergencyId
PATCH /api/emergencies/:emergencyId/end
POST /api/emergencies/:emergencyId/locations
GET /api/emergencies/:emergencyId/locations
POST /api/emergencies/:emergencyId/evidence
GET /api/emergencies/:emergencyId/evidence

Realtime Socket.io events:

emergency:join
emergency:leave
emergency:joined
emergency:left
location:created
socket:error

Evidence uploads are handled through Cloudinary-backed backend endpoints.

Dashboard MVP

The dashboard provides the primary deployed MVP workflow: registration, login, emergency contact setup, emergency start/end controls, manual location updates, evidence upload, emergency history, evidence metadata, and realtime location updates.

Mobile MVP

The mobile app provides login, persisted auth, SOS start/end controls, active emergency status, and manual current-location updates from Android.

Future Features

• mobile deployed-backend configuration polish
• Mobile evidence capture
• API and database documentation