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Architecture Overview

This document provides a high-level overview of JobHunter07's technical architecture. It's designed for developers who want to understand how the system works and contribute effectively.

System Architecture​

JobHunter07 follows a modern, scalable architecture designed for community ownership and transparency.

High-Level Architecture​

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Client Layer                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Web App (React)  │  Mobile App (React Native - Future) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                          │
                          ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    API Gateway                           │
│              (Authentication, Routing)                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                          │
                          ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  Application Services                    │
├──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬────────────┤
│   User       │  Job Tracker │   Community  │ Governance │
│   Service    │   Service    │   Service    │  Service   │
└──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴────────────┘
                          │
                          ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Data Layer                            │
├─────────────────┬────────────────┬──────────────────────┤
│   PostgreSQL    │  Redis Cache   │   File Storage (S3)  │
└─────────────────┴────────────────┴──────────────────────┘

Technology Stack​

Frontend​

Web Application

  • Framework: React 18+ with TypeScript
  • State Management: Redux Toolkit
  • Routing: React Router v6
  • UI Components: Material-UI (MUI) / Custom design system
  • Forms: React Hook Form with Zod validation
  • API Client: Axios with React Query
  • Build Tool: Vite
  • Testing: Jest, React Testing Library, Playwright

Mobile Application (Planned)

  • Framework: React Native with TypeScript
  • Navigation: React Navigation
  • Shared Logic: Monorepo with shared business logic

Backend​

API Server

  • Runtime: Node.js 20+
  • Framework: Express.js or Fastify
  • Language: TypeScript
  • API Style: RESTful with GraphQL (future consideration)
  • Authentication: JWT + Refresh Tokens, OAuth 2.0
  • Validation: Zod schemas
  • Documentation: OpenAPI/Swagger

Background Jobs

  • Queue: BullMQ with Redis
  • Scheduler: node-cron
  • Workers: Separate worker processes

Database​

Primary Database

  • System: PostgreSQL 15+
  • ORM: Prisma or TypeORM
  • Migrations: Managed by ORM
  • Connection Pooling: PgBouncer

Caching

  • System: Redis 7+
  • Use Cases: Session storage, job queues, cache layer

Search (Future)

  • System: Elasticsearch or Meilisearch
  • Use Cases: Full-text job search, company search

Infrastructure​

Hosting

  • Platform: Cloud provider (AWS, GCP, or DigitalOcean)
  • Containerization: Docker
  • Orchestration: Kubernetes or Docker Compose (depending on scale)
  • CDN: CloudFlare for static assets

CI/CD

  • Version Control: GitHub
  • CI: GitHub Actions
  • Deployment: Automated deployment on merge to main
  • Testing: Automated test runs on PRs

Monitoring & Observability

  • Logging: Structured logging (Winston/Pino)
  • Error Tracking: Sentry
  • Application Performance: New Relic or DataDog
  • Uptime Monitoring: UptimeRobot or similar

Development Tools​

  • Package Manager: pnpm (monorepo support)
  • Monorepo Tool: Turborepo or Nx
  • Code Quality: ESLint, Prettier, Husky (pre-commit hooks)
  • Type Checking: TypeScript strict mode
  • API Testing: Postman/Insomnia collections

Core Services​

User Service​

Manages user accounts, authentication, and profiles.

Responsibilities:

  • User registration and authentication
  • Profile management
  • Privacy settings
  • OAuth integration
  • Password reset flows

Key Technologies:

  • JWT for authentication
  • bcrypt for password hashing
  • OAuth 2.0 for social login

Job Tracker Service​

Handles job application tracking functionality.

Responsibilities:

  • CRUD operations for job applications
  • Status tracking and updates
  • Notes and document management
  • Analytics and insights
  • Reminders and notifications

Data Model:

  • Applications
  • Companies
  • Contacts
  • Documents/Attachments
  • Timeline events

Community Service​

Powers forums, discussions, and social features.

Responsibilities:

  • Forum posts and comments
  • Peer reviews (resume, cover letter)
  • Referral requests and matching
  • Reputation/karma system
  • Moderation tools

Features:

  • Markdown support for posts
  • Real-time notifications
  • Search and filtering
  • Voting/reactions

Governance Service​

Manages DAO functionality and voting.

Responsibilities:

  • Proposal creation and voting
  • Token distribution and tracking
  • Governance analytics
  • Delegation (future)

Integration:

  • Snapshot for off-chain voting
  • On-chain integration (future)

Recommendation Service​

Provides personalized job recommendations.

Responsibilities:

  • Job matching algorithm
  • User preference learning
  • External job board aggregation
  • Relevance scoring

Approach:

  • Content-based filtering (skills matching)
  • Collaborative filtering (similar users)
  • Hybrid approach for best results

Notification Service​

Handles all platform notifications.

Channels:

  • Email (transactional and marketing)
  • In-app notifications
  • Push notifications (mobile, future)
  • Webhooks (for integrations)

Features:

  • User preference management
  • Template system
  • Rate limiting
  • Delivery tracking

Data Models​

Core Entities​

User​

interface User {
  id: string;
  email: string;
  passwordHash: string;
  profile: UserProfile;
  preferences: UserPreferences;
  privacySettings: PrivacySettings;
  governanceTokens: number;
  createdAt: Date;
  updatedAt: Date;
}

JobApplication​

interface JobApplication {
  id: string;
  userId: string;
  companyId: string;
  positionTitle: string;
  status: ApplicationStatus;
  appliedDate: Date;
  url?: string;
  notes: Note[];
  timeline: TimelineEvent[];
  contacts: Contact[];
  documents: Document[];
  createdAt: Date;
  updatedAt: Date;
}

Proposal (Governance)​

interface Proposal {
  id: string;
  authorId: string;
  title: string;
  description: string;
  status: ProposalStatus;
  votingStartDate: Date;
  votingEndDate: Date;
  votes: Vote[];
  result?: ProposalResult;
  createdAt: Date;
}

API Design​

RESTful Conventions​

We follow REST best practices:

Resource Naming

  • Plural nouns: /api/applications, /api/users
  • Nested resources: /api/applications/:id/notes
  • Actions: POST /api/applications/:id/archive

HTTP Methods

  • GET: Retrieve resources
  • POST: Create resources
  • PUT/PATCH: Update resources
  • DELETE: Remove resources

Status Codes

  • 200: Success
  • 201: Created
  • 204: No content (successful delete)
  • 400: Bad request
  • 401: Unauthorized
  • 403: Forbidden
  • 404: Not found
  • 500: Server error

API Versioning​

  • Version in URL: /api/v1/applications
  • Major versions only (v1, v2)
  • Deprecation notices 6 months before removal

Example Endpoints​

# Applications
GET    /api/v1/applications          # List all
POST   /api/v1/applications          # Create new
GET    /api/v1/applications/:id      # Get one
PATCH  /api/v1/applications/:id      # Update
DELETE /api/v1/applications/:id      # Delete

# Application Notes
GET    /api/v1/applications/:id/notes
POST   /api/v1/applications/:id/notes

# Community
GET    /api/v1/posts                 # List posts
POST   /api/v1/posts                 # Create post
GET    /api/v1/posts/:id             # Get post
POST   /api/v1/posts/:id/comments    # Add comment

# Governance
GET    /api/v1/proposals             # List proposals
POST   /api/v1/proposals             # Create proposal
POST   /api/v1/proposals/:id/vote    # Cast vote

Security​

Authentication & Authorization​

Authentication

  • JWT access tokens (short-lived, 15 minutes)
  • Refresh tokens (long-lived, 7 days) stored in httpOnly cookies
  • OAuth 2.0 for third-party authentication

Authorization

  • Role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Resource-level permissions
  • API rate limiting per user

Data Protection​

  • Encryption at Rest: Database encryption
  • Encryption in Transit: TLS 1.3 for all connections
  • Sensitive Data: Additional encryption for PII
  • Secrets Management: Environment variables, vault for production

Security Best Practices​

  • Input validation and sanitization
  • SQL injection prevention (parameterized queries)
  • XSS protection (Content Security Policy)
  • CSRF protection (tokens)
  • Rate limiting on all endpoints
  • Security headers (Helmet.js)

Vulnerability Management​

  • Regular dependency updates
  • Automated security scanning (Snyk, Dependabot)
  • Bug bounty program
  • Responsible disclosure policy

Performance & Scalability​

Caching Strategy​

Application Cache (Redis)

  • User sessions
  • Frequently accessed data
  • API response caching

Database Query Optimization

  • Proper indexing
  • Query optimization
  • Pagination for large result sets

CDN

  • Static assets served from edge locations
  • Image optimization

Horizontal Scaling​

  • Stateless API servers (can scale horizontally)
  • Load balancer distributes traffic
  • Database read replicas for read-heavy operations
  • Caching reduces database load

Performance Monitoring​

  • Response time tracking
  • Database query performance
  • Error rate monitoring
  • Resource utilization

Development Workflow​

Branching Strategy​

Git Flow

  • main: Production-ready code
  • develop: Integration branch
  • feature/*: New features
  • bugfix/*: Bug fixes
  • hotfix/*: Emergency production fixes

Code Review​

  • All changes require PR review
  • At least one approving review
  • Automated checks must pass:
    • Linting
    • Type checking
    • Unit tests
    • E2E tests

Testing Strategy​

Unit Tests

  • Test individual functions and components
  • Mock external dependencies
  • Target: 80%+ coverage

Integration Tests

  • Test service interactions
  • Use test database
  • Cover critical user flows

End-to-End Tests

  • Test full user workflows
  • Run against staging environment
  • Smoke tests on production deploy

Deployment Process​

  1. Development: Feature branches
  2. Staging: Merge to develop, auto-deploy to staging
  3. Production: Merge develop → main, auto-deploy
  4. Monitoring: Watch error rates, performance
  5. Rollback: Automated rollback on critical errors

Monorepo Structure​

jobhunter07/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/                 # Web application
│   ├── api/                 # API server
│   ├── workers/             # Background job workers
│   └── mobile/              # Mobile app (future)
├── packages/
│   ├── shared/              # Shared utilities
│   ├── ui-components/       # Shared UI components
│   ├── types/               # TypeScript types
│   └── config/              # Shared configs
├── docs/                    # Documentation
├── scripts/                 # Build and deploy scripts
└── infrastructure/          # IaC (Terraform, K8s configs)

Future Architecture Considerations​

Microservices​

As platform grows, consider:

  • Breaking monolith into microservices
  • Service mesh for communication
  • Event-driven architecture

Real-Time Features​

  • WebSocket server for real-time updates
  • Collaborative editing
  • Live chat/messaging

AI/ML Integration​

  • Job matching algorithm improvements
  • Resume analysis and suggestions
  • Interview preparation chatbot

Blockchain Integration​

  • On-chain governance for critical decisions
  • Token distribution and vesting
  • Decentralized identity (future)

Getting Started​

Local Development Setup​

  1. Prerequisites:

    • Node.js 20+
    • PostgreSQL 15+
    • Redis 7+
    • pnpm

  2. Clone and Install:

    git clone https://github.com/JobHunter07/jobhunter07.git
    cd jobhunter07
    pnpm install

  3. Environment Variables:

    cp .env.example .env
    # Edit .env with your local settings

  4. Database Setup:

    pnpm db:migrate
    pnpm db:seed

  5. Run Development:

    pnpm dev

See the repository README for detailed setup instructions.

Resources​

Questions?​

This architecture is designed to be transparent, maintainable, and community-friendly. It will evolve as we learn and grow.