Buffonomics

Buffonomics tracks the stock-trading disclosures of U.S. Congress members so students can explore which lawmakers are buying or selling specific equities.

Contributors

• Elijah Boyer
• Stephen Le
• Ali Siddiqui
• Sutchin Somanathan
• Pranav Meka
• Kai Janipalli

Technology Stack

Frontend:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

Backend:

• Node.js
• Express.js

Database:

• PostgreSQL

Containerization:

• Docker

External APIs:

• Quiver Quant – congressional trading history

Prerequisites to run the application

• Docker Desktop
• Modern web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
• Quiver Quant API Key

Instructions on running the application locally

1. Clone & enter the repo

   git clone https://github.com/Wheatlys/Buffonomics.git
   cd Buffonomics/ProjectSourceCode

2. Configure environment variables – copy .env and update with your own secrets if needed.

   POSTGRES_USER=postgres
   POSTGRES_PASSWORD=pwd
   POSTGRES_DB=users_db
   SESSION_SECRET=change-me
   QUIVER_API_KEY=your-quiver-key

3. Start the full stack with Docker Compose

   docker compose up --build

   This launches PostgreSQL (db) and the Node.js web service (web) and automatically runs migrations plus the Mocha test suite before the server starts.
4. Visit the app at http://localhost:3000 and log in or register to explore the dashboard and /congress profile pages.

How to run the tests

All automated tests live in ProjectSourceCode/test/server.spec.js (Mocha + Chai). To execute them:

cd ProjectSourceCode
npm test

or, if Docker is already running:

docker compose run --rm web npm test

These cases validate the /welcome health endpoint and the registration flow (success + invalid input). Add new unit tests alongside server.spec.js to expand coverage.

Link to the Deployed Application

https://buffonomics.onrender.com