E-Cell IPS Academy

Official website of the Entrepreneurship Cell, IPS Academy — Indore

Startup incubation · Mentorship · Events & workshops · Innovation hub

 

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Overview

This is the official web platform for E-Cell IPS Academy, the Entrepreneurship Cell of IPS Academy, Indore. It serves as the public face of the cell and the content-management backend that powers it — showcasing events, workshops, startups, mentorship programs, and funding opportunities, with an admin panel for managing all of it.

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Framework	Next.js 15 (App Router) + React 19 + TypeScript
Styling	Tailwind CSS v4
Animation	Framer Motion · GSAP · Three.js / React Three Fiber
Backend	Firebase (Authentication + Cloud Firestore)
Email	Next.js Route Handler + nodemailer
Media	Cloudinary (unsigned client-side uploads)
Routing	Next.js App Router (src/app)
Icons	lucide-react
Data export	xlsx

Features

• Public site — Home, About, Team, Alumni, Startups, Incubation, Mentorship, Funding, Workshops, Competitions, Events, Resources, Blog, FAQ, Contact, Hiring.
• User accounts — Firebase email/password + Google sign-in (login, signup, password reset, dashboard).
• Admin panel (/admin/login) — manage blogs, events, gallery, startups, team, hero/announcements, about content, and site settings, with Cloudinary-backed image uploads.
• Certificate mailer — a server-side API route (/api/send-certificate-emails) emails issued certificates via nodemailer; SMTP credentials stay on the server.
• SEO-ready — rich meta tags, Open Graph, Twitter cards, and JSON-LD structured data via the Next.js Metadata API in src/app/layout.tsx.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20.9+
• npm (a package-lock.json is committed; the project standardizes on npm)
• A Firebase project (Authentication + Firestore enabled)
• A Cloudinary account with an unsigned upload preset

Setup

# 1. Install dependencies
npm install

# 2. Create your local environment file
cp .env.example .env.local
# then open .env.local and fill in your real values

# 3. Start the dev server
npm run dev

The app runs at http://localhost:3000.

Environment Variables

All config is loaded from environment variables — see .env.example for the full list and copy it to .env.local.

⚠️ Important: Every NEXT_PUBLIC_* variable is inlined into the production bundle and is publicly visible to anyone who opens the site. Only put public-safe values (Firebase web config, Cloudinary cloud name + unsigned preset) in NEXT_PUBLIC_* vars. Never put a true secret (Cloudinary API secret, SMTP password, service-account key) in a NEXT_PUBLIC_ variable — those belong on the server only.

Client (NEXT_PUBLIC_* — safe to expose)

Variable	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_*	Firebase web app config (public by design — secure data via Firestore Security Rules)
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME	Cloudinary cloud name
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLOUDINARY_UPLOAD_PRESET	Cloudinary unsigned upload preset
NEXT_PUBLIC_CERT_MAILER_URL	Certificate mailer endpoint (defaults to /api/send-certificate-emails)
NEXT_PUBLIC_CERT_MAIL_API_KEY	Shared key sent to the mailer route (must equal server ADMIN_API_KEY)
NEXT_PUBLIC_ADMIN_USERNAME / NEXT_PUBLIC_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Admin-panel login (see security note below)

Server-side only (never bundled into the client)

Variable	Description
SMTP_USER / SMTP_PASS	Mailbox + app password used by the certificate mailer route
SMTP_SERVICE / SMTP_HOST / SMTP_PORT	Optional transport overrides (defaults to Gmail SMTP on port 465)
SMTP_FROM	Optional From address (defaults to SMTP_USER)
ADMIN_API_KEY	Optional shared secret guarding the mailer route
CORS_ORIGIN	Optional; only needed for cross-origin calls to the mailer route
FIREBASE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT + SEED_ADMIN_*	Used only by npm run seed:admin (see below)

Scripts

Command	Description
npm run dev	Start the Next.js dev server (localhost:3000)
npm run build	Production build (next build, output in .next)
npm run start	Serve the production build (next start)
npm run lint	Run ESLint
npm run lint:fix	Run ESLint with autofix
npm run format	Format the codebase with Prettier
npm run format:check	Check formatting without writing
npm run test:e2e	Run Playwright end-to-end tests
npm run seed:admin	Provision an admin user in Firebase (see below)

Code quality

• Prettier formats the code; ESLint (eslint-config-next) lints it. Linting is run separately from the build (next.config.ts sets eslint.ignoreDuringBuilds: true).
• Playwright drives end-to-end smoke tests in e2e/.

Seeding an Admin

npm run seed:admin provisions an administrator in Firebase Authentication (creates the user, sets an admin: true custom claim, and writes an admins/{uid} document in Firestore). It uses the Firebase Admin SDK, so it requires a service-account key.

# 1. In the Firebase Console:
#    Project Settings → Service accounts → Generate new private key
#    Save the JSON file (it is gitignored — never commit it).

# 2. Run the seeder (flags or env vars):
npm run seed:admin -- \
  --service-account ./serviceAccountKey.json \
  --email admin@ecell.ipsacademy.org \
  --password "a-strong-password" \
  --name "E-Cell Admin" \
  --role "Super Admin"

You can also set FIREBASE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT, SEED_ADMIN_EMAIL, SEED_ADMIN_PASSWORD, SEED_ADMIN_NAME, and SEED_ADMIN_ROLE in the environment instead of passing flags. The script is idempotent — re-running it updates the existing user.

The current /admin/login page performs a client-side credential check (NEXT_PUBLIC_ADMIN_*), which is not real security — the values ship in the browser bundle. The seeder lays the groundwork for proper server-verified admin auth; migrating AdminLogin to Firebase Auth + custom claims is the recommended next step.

Project Structure

src/
├── app/             # Next.js App Router — routes, layouts, API route handlers
│   ├── (public)/    #   public route group (home, about, blog, events, …) + layout
│   ├── admin/       #   admin login + (protected) dashboard routes
│   ├── api/         #   route handlers (send-certificate-emails)
│   ├── layout.tsx   #   root layout (metadata, providers, analytics)
│   └── providers.tsx#   client providers (Auth, Toasts, …)
├── screens/         # Page-level components rendered by the App Router routes
├── features/        # Self-contained feature modules (certificates, …)
├── shared/          # Cross-cutting building blocks (ui, hooks, feedback, lib)
├── components/      # Shared components (core: Navbar/Footer/Loader; admin shell)
├── context/         # React context (AuthContext)
├── hooks/           # Reusable hooks (useAdminAuth)
├── firebase/        # Firebase initialization (config.ts)
├── services/        # Auth and data services
└── types/           # Shared TypeScript types
scripts/
└── seed-admin.mjs   # Firebase admin seeder

Deployment

The app is designed for Vercel (zero-config Next.js). Push to your connected Git repository, or deploy with the Vercel CLI. next build produces the .next output; Vercel builds and serves it automatically.

Set every environment variable in your host's project settings (Vercel → Project → Settings → Environment Variables). NEXT_PUBLIC_* vars are inlined at build time, so add them before building; server-side vars (SMTP, ADMIN_API_KEY, seed vars) are read at request time by the API route.

This repo standardizes on npm. vercel.json pins the install command to npm install, and a package-lock.json is committed. If you prefer a different package manager, update vercel.json and commit the matching lockfile.

Security Notes

• Secrets must never be committed. .env.local (and all .env* except .env.example) is gitignored; only .env.example (placeholders) is tracked.
• Service-account keys (serviceAccountKey.json, *service-account*.json) are gitignored.
• SMTP credentials and ADMIN_API_KEY are server-side only — they are used by the /api/send-certificate-emails route and are never exposed to the browser.
• Protect your Firestore data with Security Rules — the Firebase web API key is not a secret and does not protect your database on its own.

License

© E-Cell IPS Academy. All rights reserved.