Tailr

Tailr is a full-stack social discovery app for urban places. It combines a React + Vite client with an Express API, using PostgreSQL (via Drizzle ORM and Neon) for persistence.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Tech Stack
• Repository Structure
• Getting Started
• Environment Variables
• Available Scripts
• Database and Schema
• API Overview
• Deployment
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• License

Overview

Tailr provides:

• Place discovery and search
• User accounts with session-based authentication
• Social features (posts, comments, likes, follows, saved places)
• Lists, reviews, notifications, and story-like content
• Community place photo uploads (with optional Replit Object Storage integration)

The app runs as a single Node.js service that serves both:

• JSON API routes under /api/*
• The web client (Vite middleware in development, static assets in production)

Tech Stack

Backend

• Node.js (recommended: 20.x)
• Express
• TypeScript
• Drizzle ORM
• Neon serverless PostgreSQL driver
• Session auth with express-session + memorystore

Frontend

• React 19
• Vite 7
• Wouter
• TanStack Query
• Tailwind CSS 4
• Leaflet / React Leaflet

Tooling

• tsx for TypeScript runtime scripts
• esbuild for server bundling in production builds
• drizzle-kit for database schema push

Repository Structure

.
|- client/                     # React app (UI, routes, hooks, components)
|- server/                     # Express app, API routes, auth, storage layer
|- shared/                     # Shared Drizzle schema + Zod insert schemas
|- script/                     # Build pipeline script (client + server outputs)
|- scripts/                    # Operational shell scripts (for example post-merge)
|- attached_assets/            # Static assets served by Express
|- drizzle.config.ts           # Drizzle configuration
|- vite.config.ts              # Vite config (dev + build outDir)
|- tsconfig.json               # TypeScript config + path aliases
`- .replit                     # Replit runtime and deployment config

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20.x
• npm 9+ (or compatible)
• A PostgreSQL database URL (DATABASE_URL)

1) Install dependencies

npm install

2) Configure environment variables

Create a local environment file or set environment variables in your shell/hosting provider.

# Example .env values
DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@host:5432/dbname
SESSION_SECRET=replace-with-a-long-random-secret
PORT=5000
NODE_ENV=development
GOOGLE_API_KEY=optional

3) Apply schema to your database

npm run db:push

4) Start development server

npm run dev

The app is expected to run on http://localhost:5000.

Windows note

The scripts in package.json use Unix-style inline env assignments (NODE_ENV=...). If npm run dev or npm run start fails in PowerShell/CMD, use:

$env:NODE_ENV="development"; npx tsx server/index.ts

For production locally:

npm run build
$env:NODE_ENV="production"; node dist/index.cjs

Environment Variables

Available Scripts

From package.json:

• npm run dev - Start Express in development mode (tsx server/index.ts).
• npm run dev:client - Start only the Vite client on port 5000.
• npm run build - Build client assets and bundle server into dist/.
• npm run start - Start the production server from dist/index.cjs.
• npm run check - TypeScript type-check.
• npm run db:push - Push Drizzle schema to the configured database.

Database and Schema

• Drizzle config: drizzle.config.ts
• Schema source of truth: shared/schema.ts
• Runtime storage implementation: server/storage.ts
• Output migrations directory: migrations/ (as configured in Drizzle)

Typical DB workflow:

1. Update table/schema definitions in shared/schema.ts.
2. Run npm run db:push to apply changes.
3. Restart dev server if needed.

API Overview

Primary routes live in server/routes.ts, including:

• Auth: /api/auth/*
• Users and social graph: /api/users/*, /api/follow*
• Places and search: /api/places*
• Posts and engagement: /api/posts*, /api/comments*
• Saved places and lists: /api/saved*, /api/lists*
• Reviews and notifications: /api/places/:id/reviews*, /api/notifications*
• Stories and suggestions: /api/stories*, /api/suggestions
• Upload helpers/object storage integration: routes under /api/uploads/* and /objects/*

Deployment

The repository includes Replit deployment configuration in .replit:

• Build command: npm run build
• Run command: npm run start
• Deployment target: autoscale
• Port mapping: local 5000 to external 80

For non-Replit deployments, ensure:

1. DATABASE_URL and SESSION_SECRET are set.
2. npm run build runs during CI/build phase.
3. Runtime starts node dist/index.cjs with NODE_ENV=production.

Troubleshooting

• DATABASE_URL must be set
  Ensure DATABASE_URL exists in your shell or deployment secrets before running db:push, dev, or start.

• Session/auth issues in production
  Set a strong SESSION_SECRET and verify cookie/domain/HTTPS behavior for your deployment.

• Google photo/places data missing
  Set GOOGLE_API_KEY and verify Places API access in your Google Cloud project.

• Port already in use (5000)
  Stop the existing process or set PORT to an open port for local runs.

• Windows script env assignment errors
  Use the PowerShell commands in the Windows note section.

Contributing

1. Create a feature branch.
2. Keep changes scoped and documented.
3. Run:
   • npm run check
   • npm run build (recommended before opening PR)
4. Submit a PR with:
   • What changed
   • Why it changed
   • How it was tested

License

MIT (see package.json).