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Hosting and Deployment

The platform is deployed on Vercel with a MongoDB Atlas database and external services for email and file storage.

Deployment Architecture​

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Vercel                            │
│                                                          │
│   ┌─────────────────┐    ┌────────────────────────┐      │
│   │  Next.js App    │    │  API Routes            │      │
│   │  (SSR + Client) │    │  (Serverless Functions) │      │
│   └────────┬────────┘    └──────────┬─────────────┘      │
│            │                        │                     │
│            │    ┌───────────────────┤                     │
│            │    │   Cron Job        │                     │
│            │    │   (Daily 08:00)   │                     │
│            │    └───────────────────┘                     │
└────────────┼────────────────────────┼────────────────────┘
             │                        │
             ▼                        ▼
┌────────────────────┐   ┌──────────────────────┐
│   MongoDB Atlas    │   │   AWS Lambda (SES)   │
│   (Database)       │   │   (Email Service)    │
└────────────────────┘   └──────────────────────┘
                                    │
             ┌──────────────────────┤
             ▼                      ▼
┌────────────────────┐   ┌──────────────────────┐
│   Cloudinary       │   │   AWS CloudFront     │
│   (File Storage)   │   │   (CDN / S3)         │
└────────────────────┘   └──────────────────────┘

Vercel Configuration​

The deployment is configured via vercel.json:

{
  "crons": [
    {
      "path": "/api/auto_reminder",
      "schedule": "0 8 * * *"
    }
  ]
}

This sets up a single cron job that hits the auto-reminder endpoint every day at 08:00 UTC to send email reminders for MOCs with upcoming or overdue deadlines.

Next.js Build Configuration​

From next.config.ts:

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  images: {
    domains: [
      "example.com",
      "d1lzcclp79qvxc.cloudfront.net",
      "ui-avatars.com",
    ],
  },
  typescript: {
    ignoreBuildErrors: true,
  },
  eslint: {
    ignoreDuringBuilds: true,
  },
};

Key settings:

  • Image domains — Allows Next.js Image Optimization for CloudFront CDN and UI Avatars service
  • Build error suppression — TypeScript and ESLint errors are ignored during the build process

Database Connection​

The MongoDB connection is managed as a singleton in src/helpers/dbConnection.ts:

const connection = { isConnected: 0 };

async function dbConnect() {
  if (connection.isConnected) return mongoose.connection;
  const db = await mongoose.connect(process.env.REMOTE_URL!);
  connection.isConnected = db.connections[0].readyState;
  mongoose.set("strictPopulate", false);
  return db;
}

The connection string is stored in the REMOTE_URL environment variable.

Email Service​

Emails are sent via an AWS Lambda function that forwards to AWS SES. The Lambda endpoint URL is configured in src/helpers/send_email.ts.

const response = await fetch(
  "https://{lambda-id}.lambda-url.eu-north-1.on.aws/",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    body: JSON.stringify(payload),
  }
);

File Storage​

The platform uses two file storage services:

  • Cloudinary — Primary storage for images and documents uploaded through the UI (profile pictures, signatures, attachments)
  • AWS S3 — Additional storage accessed via a custom endpoint configured in NEXT_PUBLIC_S3_BUCKET_URL

Real-time Features​

Firebase is configured at src/lib/firebase.js for real-time notification capabilities.

Environment Variables​

See Environment Configuration for a full list of required environment variables.