Quzr – A Minimal Q&A Forum Platform

Problem Statement (Number 2 StackIt)

Modern knowledge sharing platforms are often bloated with unnecessary features that distract from the core learning experience. Developers, students, and professionals need a focused, minimal Q&A platform that prioritizes:

• Simplicity: Clean, distraction-free interface for asking and answering questions
• Rich Content: Proper formatting tools for code, images, and structured text
• Community Engagement: Voting, tagging, and notification systems that encourage participation
• Knowledge Discovery: Effective tagging and search to find relevant answers quickly

Quzr solves these problems by providing a streamlined forum experience that emphasizes quality over quantity in both features and content.

Overview

Quzr is a minimal question-and-answer platform designed for collaborative learning and structured knowledge sharing. It focuses on the core experience of asking and answering questions within a community, without the complexity of traditional forum platforms.

Core Features

🔍 Question Management

• Rich Text Editor: Bold, italic, strikethrough, lists, emojis, hyperlinks, images
• Text Alignment: Left, center, right alignment options
• Tagging System: Multi-select tags for easy categorization and discovery
• Image Upload: Direct image embedding in questions and answers

💬 Answering System

• Rich Formatting: Same powerful editor for answers
• Voting: Upvote/downvote answers to surface the best content
• Acceptance: Question owners can mark the best answer as accepted
• User Authentication: Only logged-in users can post answers

🔔 Notification System

• Real-time Notifications: Bell icon with unread count
• Smart Alerts: Notified when someone answers your question, comments on your answer, or mentions you with @username
• Dropdown Interface: Click to view recent notifications

👥 User Roles

• Guest: View all questions and answers
• User: Register, login, post questions/answers, vote
• Admin: Moderate content and manage the platform

Technical Stack

• Frontend: React 18, Vite
• Backend: Node.js, Express
• Database: PostgreSQL
• ORM: Prisma
• Containerization: Docker

Local Development Setup

Follow these steps to set up and run the backend server locally.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or later)
• Docker and Docker Compose
• npm (or your preferred package manager)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/quzr.git
cd quzr

2. Set Up the Backend

1. Navigate to the backend directory:

   cd backend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create the environment file: Create a new file named .env in the backend directory and add the following line:

   DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/quzr_dev?schema=public"

4. Start the PostgreSQL database: Make sure Docker is running, then execute:

   docker compose up -d

5. Apply database migrations: This command will set up the database schema.

   npm run db:migrate

6. Start the development server:

   npm run dev

The backend API should now be running on http://localhost:3000 (or the port specified in your configuration).

Status: 🚧 In Development

Quzr - Where knowledge sharing meets simplicity.

Team Members

• Dixit Tilaji
• Naviz Khoja
• Uday Gajera
• Aditya Tiwari