CompassChat

A store-and-forward messaging platform for the Community Compass ecosystem

CompassChat is a Java-based, Slack-inspired communication platform built as the primary internal messaging backbone for Community Compass — an AI-powered community guidance platform that connects residents to housing, resources, and support services.

This project is a ZipCode Wilmington student capstone. It demonstrates full-stack Java development, real-time messaging architecture, role-based access control, and integration across a multi-project ecosystem.

About Community Compass

Community Compass is an AI-powered community guidance platform designed to help residents find housing, resources, opportunities, and support through one trusted entry point. It addresses the fragmented nature of social services by unifying four core capabilities:

Sub-Project	Description
Civic Guidance & Community Updates	Verified community resources, policy updates, and "Why It Matters" civic briefings
Personalized Housing Navigation	Eligibility-based housing matching, interactive maps, and an AI Housing Assistant
Community Support & Well-Being	Resource discovery, wellness check-ins, volunteer networks, and AI-guided recommendations
Youth Transition Pathways	AI-assisted intake and structured guidance plans for young adults navigating independence

CompassChat is the communication layer that ties these four sub-projects together, enabling case workers, coordinators, and support staff to collaborate across the platform in real time.

Project Overview

CompassChat is a store-and-forward messaging system — messages are persisted to the server and delivered to recipients whenever they are online. This design supports:

Asynchronous communication between case workers and clients
Persistent channel history that survives client disconnects
Audit-ready message records for case documentation
Cross-team coordination across the four Community Compass sub-projects

Who Uses CompassChat?

Role	Use Case
Case Workers	Communicate directly with clients; coordinate with peers; receive sub-project channel updates
Clients / Residents	Receive guidance, follow up on housing referrals, ask questions in a secure space
Coordinators / Admins	Manage channel membership, monitor communication, oversee cross-team workflows
Sub-Project Teams	Dedicated channels for housing, civic, well-being, and youth services coordination

Features

Messaging

Real-time store-and-forward messaging (WebSocket / long-poll fallback)
Direct Messages (DMs) between any two users
Public and private channels
Threaded replies on any message
Message edit and delete (with audit trail)
File and image attachment support
Read receipts and unread message counts

Channels

Create and archive channels
Role-based channel membership (admin, member, read-only)
Pinned messages within channels
Channel descriptions and purpose fields
System channels linked to each Community Compass sub-project

Users & Roles

Role-based access control: ADMIN, CASE_WORKER, COORDINATOR, CLIENT, VOLUNTEER
User profiles with contact info and assigned sub-project(s)
Case worker–client assignment management
Presence indicators (online / away / offline)

Notifications

In-app notification feed
@mention support with targeted notifications
Channel-level notification preferences (all messages / mentions only / muted)
Email digest for offline users (configurable)

Administration

Admin dashboard: user management, channel oversight, message audit log
Bulk channel membership management
Export channel history (CSV / JSON) for case records
Rate limiting and spam prevention

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  CompassChat                    │
│                                                 │
│   ┌─────────────┐       ┌────────────────────┐  │
│   │  React 18   │◄─────►│  Spring Boot API   │  │
│   │  Frontend   │  REST │  (Java 21)         │  │
│   │  (Vite +    │  /WS  │                    │  │
│   │  Tailwind)  │       │  - Auth (JWT)      │  │
│   └─────────────┘       │  - Channels        │  │
│                         │  - Messages        │  │
│                         │  - Users / Roles   │  │
│                         │  - Notifications   │  │
│                         └────────┬───────────┘  │
│                                  │              │
│                         ┌────────▼───────────┐  │
│                         │   PostgreSQL DB    │  │
│                         │   (Messages,       │  │
│                         │   Channels,        │  │
│                         │   Users, Roles)    │  │
│                         └────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
         │              │              │              │
         ▼              ▼              ▼              ▼
   [Civic Sub-    [Housing Sub-  [Well-Being    [Youth Sub-
    Project]       Project]      Sub-Project]   Project]

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Java 21
Framework	Spring Boot 3.x
Persistence	Spring Data JPA / Hibernate
Database	PostgreSQL
Real-Time	Spring WebSocket (STOMP)
Auth	Spring Security + JWT
Build Tool	Maven or Gradle
Frontend	React 18, Vite, Tailwind CSS
Testing	JUnit 5, Mockito, Spring Boot Test
Containerization	Docker / Docker Compose

Key Domain Models

User
 ├── id, username, email, passwordHash
 ├── role: ADMIN | CASE_WORKER | COORDINATOR | CLIENT | VOLUNTEER
 ├── assignedSubProject (optional)
 └── presence: ONLINE | AWAY | OFFLINE

Channel
 ├── id, name, description, purpose
 ├── type: PUBLIC | PRIVATE | DIRECT | SYSTEM
 ├── linkedSubProject (optional)
 └── members: List<ChannelMembership>

Message
 ├── id, body, createdAt, editedAt
 ├── sender: User
 ├── channel: Channel
 ├── parentMessage: Message (for threads)
 └── attachments: List<Attachment>

ChannelMembership
 ├── user: User
 ├── channel: Channel
 ├── memberRole: ADMIN | MEMBER | READ_ONLY
 └── notificationPreference: ALL | MENTIONS | MUTED

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Java 21+
Maven 3.9+ or Gradle 8+
PostgreSQL 15+
Node.js 20+ (for frontend development)
Docker (optional, for containerized setup)

Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/zipcode-wilmington/<your-repo-name>.git
cd <your-repo-name>

Database Setup

CREATE DATABASE compasschat;
CREATE USER compasschat_user WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'changeme';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE compasschat TO compasschat_user;

Backend Configuration

Copy the example environment file and update values:

cp src/main/resources/application.example.properties src/main/resources/application.properties

Key configuration properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/compasschat
spring.datasource.username=compasschat_user
spring.datasource.password=changeme
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update

jwt.secret=your-secret-key-here
jwt.expiration-ms=86400000

# Cross-origin for frontend dev server
cors.allowed-origins=http://localhost:5173

Run the Backend

# Maven
./mvnw spring-boot:run

# Gradle
./gradlew bootRun

The API will be available at http://localhost:8080.

Run the Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

The UI will be available at http://localhost:5173.

Docker Compose (Full Stack)

docker compose up --build

This starts PostgreSQL, the Spring Boot API, and the React frontend together.

API Reference

Base URL: http://localhost:8080/api/v1

All endpoints (except auth) require a Bearer <token> Authorization header.

Authentication

Method	Endpoint	Description
`POST`	`/auth/register`	Register a new user
`POST`	`/auth/login`	Login, returns JWT
`POST`	`/auth/logout`	Invalidate session token

Users

Method	Endpoint	Description
`GET`	`/users`	List all users (admin)
`GET`	`/users/{id}`	Get user profile
`PUT`	`/users/{id}`	Update user profile
`GET`	`/users/me`	Get current user
`PUT`	`/users/me/presence`	Update presence status

Channels

Method	Endpoint	Description
`GET`	`/channels`	List accessible channels
`POST`	`/channels`	Create a new channel
`GET`	`/channels/{id}`	Get channel details
`PUT`	`/channels/{id}`	Update channel info
`DELETE`	`/channels/{id}`	Archive a channel
`POST`	`/channels/{id}/members`	Add member to channel
`DELETE`	`/channels/{id}/members/{userId}`	Remove member

Messages

Method	Endpoint	Description
`GET`	`/channels/{id}/messages`	Get channel message history
`POST`	`/channels/{id}/messages`	Post a message
`PUT`	`/messages/{id}`	Edit a message
`DELETE`	`/messages/{id}`	Delete a message
`POST`	`/messages/{id}/replies`	Reply in thread
`GET`	`/messages/{id}/replies`	Get thread replies

Direct Messages

Method	Endpoint	Description
`GET`	`/dm`	List DM conversations
`POST`	`/dm/{userId}`	Start or continue a DM

WebSocket

Connect at ws://localhost:8080/ws using STOMP.

Destination	Direction	Description
`/app/channel/{id}/send`	Client → Server	Send a message
`/topic/channel/{id}`	Server → Client	Receive channel messages
`/user/queue/notifications`	Server → Client	Personal notifications
`/user/queue/dm`	Server → Client	Incoming DMs

Channel Structure

CompassChat ships with a set of pre-seeded system channels aligned to the Community Compass sub-projects, plus standard coordination channels.

System Channels

Channel	Purpose
`#civic-team`	Internal coordination for the Civic Guidance & Community Updates sub-project
`#housing-team`	Case worker coordination for housing navigation and voucher support
`#wellbeing-team`	Community support coordinators and volunteer network communication
`#youth-services-team`	Youth transition counselors and pathway coordinators

Standard Channels

Channel	Purpose
`#general`	Organization-wide announcements and general discussion
`#case-workers`	Case worker peer support and shared practice
`#admin-ops`	Administrative and operational coordination
`#volunteers`	Volunteer scheduling and coordination
`#tech-support`	Platform support and issue reporting

Client Channels

Client-facing channels are created dynamically as private channels when a case is opened. Naming convention:

#case-{caseId}-{clientLastName}

Only the assigned case worker(s) and the client are members. Coordinators with appropriate roles may observe but do not participate by default.

Related Sub-Projects

CompassChat is the communication backbone for the Community Compass platform. The four sub-projects below are companion capstone repositories within the same ecosystem.

Civic Guidance & Community Updates

Verified community resources, local assistance programs, seasonal opportunities, and policy updates — with "Why It Matters" civic briefings that help residents understand the impact of news and legislation.

Repo: community-compass-civic
Stack: React 18, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL
CompassChat Integration: Staff coordinate in #civic-team; policy update alerts can be posted to #general

Personalized Housing Navigation

Eligibility-based housing matching, interactive Leaflet maps, and an AI Housing Assistant grounded in real listings, eligibility requirements, and user preferences.

Repo: community-compass-housing
Stack: React 18, FastAPI, PostgreSQL / Supabase, Leaflet, OpenAI / Claude
CompassChat Integration: Case workers coordinate in #housing-team; client housing threads use private case channels

Community Support & Well-Being

Resource discovery, mood and wellness check-ins, appointment and reminder management, volunteer network connectivity, and AI-guided recommendations.

Repo: community-compass-wellbeing
Stack: React 18, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL / Supabase, Claude / Ollama
CompassChat Integration: Coordinators and volunteers communicate in #wellbeing-team; support requests can trigger DM notifications to assigned workers

Youth Transition Pathways

AI-assisted intake and structured guidance plans for young adults navigating housing, employment, education, transportation, and financial stability simultaneously.

Repo: community-compass-youth
Stack: React 18, Spring Boot, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, OpenAI / Claude
CompassChat Integration: Youth counselors coordinate in #youth-services-team; transition plan milestones can generate automated check-in messages

Team

Name	Role
	Backend Lead
	Frontend Lead
	Database / Data Modeling
	DevOps / Deployment
	QA / Testing

This project is developed as a capstone for ZipCode Wilmington, a nonprofit intensive coding program in Wilmington, Delaware.

License

This project is developed for educational purposes as part of the ZipCode Wilmington capstone program. See LICENSE for details.

Community Compass — Turn fragmented information into coordinated support.

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CompassChat

Table of Contents

About Community Compass

Project Overview

Who Uses CompassChat?

Features

Messaging

Channels

Users & Roles

Notifications

Administration

Architecture

Tech Stack

Key Domain Models

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Clone the Repository

Database Setup

Backend Configuration

Run the Backend

Run the Frontend

Docker Compose (Full Stack)

API Reference

Authentication

Users

Channels

Messages

Direct Messages

WebSocket

Channel Structure

System Channels

Standard Channels

Client Channels

Related Sub-Projects

Civic Guidance & Community Updates

Personalized Housing Navigation

Community Support & Well-Being

Youth Transition Pathways

Team

License

About

Resources

License

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