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🧠 What Is Cresca?

Cresca is a personal learning operating system built for working professionals and self-taught learners who only have a few hours a day.

Most people who want to learn something new a new tech skill, a side project, a career pivot fail not because of lack of motivation, but because of three things:

• ❌ No focus — distractions kill deep work
• ❌ No structure — they don't know what to learn next or where they left off
• ❌ No visibility — they can't see their own progress, so they feel stuck

Cresca solves all three in one focused space.

A full stack developer who works 9–6 can open Cresca after work, see exactly where he left off on his AI/ML journey, start a distraction-free focus session, let Grok AI tell him what to study next and log everything automatically.

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🎯 Focus Mode	Distraction-free Pomodoro timer (25/45/60/90 min). Live note-taking during sessions. Auto-logs study hours to goal on completion.
🗺️ Learning Roadmap	5 predefined paths, 5 stages each, 20–25 topics per path. Click topics to mark Not Started → Learning → Confident. AI reads your progress and suggests what to study next.
📝 Learning Journal	Auto-created after every focus session. Captures what you learned, what confused you, your next step, and your focus quality (emoji mood). Builds a searchable diary of your entire journey.
🗂️ Project Board	Kanban board (To Do → In Progress → Done) for your dream project. Tasks linked to goals with Low / Medium / High priority. Overall completion percentage.
📚 Knowledge Hub	Notion-style notes editor with sidebar navigation, word count, and auto-save. Resource library (links, videos, docs, books) per goal.
📊 Track Growth	Real analytics from actual study data. Weekly bar chart, monthly totals, current streak, active days, daily average. AI weekly report from your real numbers.
🤖 AI Coach (Grok)	Context-aware AI powered by Grok. On the roadmap it reads your topic progress. On the journal prompt it knows your goal. On weekly report it reads your real stats.
👤 Profile + Onboarding	4-step onboarding wizard — name, learning path, first goal, daily target. Profile page with stats, settings, and daily goal bar on the Today page.
🌙 Dark Mode	Full dark mode support persisted in localStorage across all pages.

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🚀 Tech Stack

Backend

Technology	Purpose
Node.js	Runtime environment
Express.js	Web framework and routing
PostgreSQL	Relational database
Sequelize	ORM for database interaction
JWT (jsonwebtoken)	Stateless authentication tokens
bcryptjs	Password hashing
dotenv	Environment variable management
Grok API	AI coaching and weekly reports

Frontend

Technology	Purpose
React (Create React App)	UI framework
React Router DOM	Client-side routing
Axios	HTTP requests with auth interceptor
Tailwind CSS	Utility-first styling
Recharts	Weekly/monthly analytics charts
Context API	Global auth state management

Infrastructure

Service	Purpose
Railway	Backend hosting + PostgreSQL database
Vercel	Frontend hosting with auto-deploy

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🏗️ Architecture

This project follows a clean RESTful MVC architecture on the backend.

Request → Route → Middleware (Auth) → Controller → Model → Database
                                           ↓
                                       Response

• Routes — Map URLs to controller functions
• Middleware — JWT verification on all protected routes
• Controllers — Receive requests, send responses
• Models — Sequelize schemas and database interaction only

This separation means changing data logic never requires touching the HTTP layer, and vice versa.

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📁 Project Structure

cresca/
├── backend/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── db.js                   # Sequelize + PostgreSQL connection
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── authController.js        # Register, login, profile
│   │   ├── goalController.js        # CRUD for goals
│   │   ├── studyController.js       # Study logs + weekly/monthly analytics
│   │   ├── noteController.js        # Notes per goal
│   │   ├── resourceController.js    # Resources per goal
│   │   ├── journalController.js     # Learning journal entries
│   │   ├── focusController.js       # Focus session tracking
│   │   ├── roadmapController.js     # Topic progress per path
│   │   ├── taskController.js        # Kanban task management
│   │   └── aiController.js          # Grok AI coach endpoint
│   ├── middleware/
│   │   └── auth.js                  # JWT authentication middleware
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── User.js
│   │   ├── Goal.js
│   │   ├── StudyLog.js
│   │   ├── Note.js
│   │   ├── Resource.js
│   │   ├── JournalEntry.js
│   │   ├── FocusSession.js
│   │   ├── TopicProgress.js
│   │   └── Task.js
│   ├── routes/
│   │   └── ...                      # One route file per model
│   ├── .env
│   └── server.js
│
└── frontend/
    └── src/
        ├── api/
        │   └── axios.js             # Axios instance with auth interceptor
        ├── components/
        │   ├── AiCoach.js           # Reusable AI chat component
        │   └── ProtectedRoute.js    # Route guard using localStorage token
        ├── context/
        │   └── AuthContext.js       # Global auth state
        └── pages/
            ├── Today.js             # Home dashboard
            ├── FocusMode.js         # Pomodoro timer + journal prompt
            ├── Journal.js           # Learning journal browser
            ├── Roadmap.js           # Learning path tracker
            ├── ProjectBoard.js      # Kanban board
            ├── KnowledgeHub.js      # Notes + resource library
            ├── TrackGrowth.js       # Analytics + AI weekly report
            ├── Dashboard.js         # Goal management
            ├── Profile.js           # User settings + stats
            ├── Onboarding.js        # First-time setup wizard
            ├── Login.js
            └── Register.js

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🔌 API Endpoints

Auth

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	No	Create account
POST	/api/auth/login	No	Login and get JWT token
GET	/api/auth/profile	Yes	Get own profile
PUT	/api/auth/profile	Yes	Update name, daily goal, onboarding status

Goals

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
GET	/api/goals	Yes	Get all goals for logged-in user
POST	/api/goals	Yes	Create a new goal
DELETE	/api/goals/:id	Yes	Delete goal (owner only)

Study Logs + Analytics

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
POST	/api/studylogs	Yes	Log a study session (updates goal progress)
GET	/api/studylogs/weekly	Yes	Hours studied per day for last 7 days
GET	/api/studylogs/monthly	Yes	Total hours, streak, avg daily, active days

Notes

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
GET	/api/notes/:goalId	Yes	Get all notes for a goal
POST	/api/notes	Yes	Create a note
PUT	/api/notes/:id	Yes	Update note title and content
DELETE	/api/notes/:id	Yes	Delete a note

Resources

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
GET	/api/resources/:goalId	Yes	Get all resources for a goal
POST	/api/resources	Yes	Save a resource (link, video, doc, book)
DELETE	/api/resources/:id	Yes	Delete a resource

Focus Sessions

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
POST	/api/focus	Yes	Save a completed focus session
GET	/api/focus	Yes	Get all focus sessions for user

Learning Journal

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
POST	/api/journal	Yes	Create journal entry after session
GET	/api/journal	Yes	Get all journal entries for user
GET	/api/journal/:goalId	Yes	Get journal entries for a specific goal

Roadmap

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
GET	/api/roadmap	Yes	Get all topic progress for user
POST	/api/roadmap	Yes	Update a topic status (upsert)

Tasks (Project Board)

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
GET	/api/tasks	Yes	Get all tasks for user
POST	/api/tasks	Yes	Create a task
PUT	/api/tasks/:id	Yes	Update task (status, priority, title)
DELETE	/api/tasks/:id	Yes	Delete a task

AI Coach

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
POST	/api/ai/coach	Yes	Send message to Grok AI coach

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🤖 How the AI Works

The AI coach is powered by Grok and is context-aware throughout the app.

On the Roadmap page — When you click "What to study next?", the app reads your actual topic progress (which topics are confident, learning, or not started) and builds a prompt from that data before sending to Grok.

On the Journal prompt — After a focus session ends, the AI knows which goal you just worked on and how long you studied.

On Track Growth — The weekly report button collects your real stats (hours this week, best day, streak, active goals) and sends them to Grok, which returns a mentor-style personal summary.

User data (goal + progress + stats)
          ↓
    Context prompt built on frontend
          ↓
    POST /api/ai/coach { message }
          ↓
    Backend sends to Grok API
          ↓
    Response returned to user

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🗺️ Learning Paths

🌐 Full Stack Web Development  →  HTML → CSS → JS → React → Node.js → PostgreSQL → Deploy
📊 Data Science               →  Python → Pandas → NumPy → Scikit-learn → ML → Deploy
🤖 AI / Machine Learning      →  Math → PyTorch → CNNs → Transformers → LLMs → Agents
⚙️ Backend Development        →  Node.js → APIs → Databases → Redis → Docker → CI/CD
🎨 Frontend Development       →  HTML/CSS → React → Hooks → TypeScript → Next.js → PWA

Each path has 5 stages and 20–25 topics. Topics cycle through:

⬜ Not Started  →  🟡 Learning  →  🟢 Confident  →  ⬜ (reset)

Progress is saved per user to the database. AI reads the current state on every request.

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⚡ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+
• PostgreSQL running locally
• Grok API key

1. Clone

git clone https://github.com/moreinn/cresca.git
cd cresca

2. Backend setup

cd backend
npm install

npm run dev

Server runs on http://localhost:5000

3. Frontend setup

cd frontend
npm install

Create frontend/.env:

REACT_APP_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/api

npm start

App runs on http://localhost:3000 — the onboarding wizard will guide you through setup.

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🌍 Deployment

Layer	Platform	Notes
Frontend	Vercel	Auto-deploys on push to main
Backend	Railway	Node.js service, root directory = backend
Database	Railway PostgreSQL	DATABASE_URL auto-injected into backend

Environment Variables in Production

Railway (backend):

DATABASE_URL       → auto-added by Railway PostgreSQL
JWT_SECRET         → your secret key
OPENAI_API_KEY     → your Grok API key
FRONTEND_URL       → https://your-app.vercel.app
NODE_ENV           → production

Vercel (frontend):

REACT_APP_API_URL  → https://your-railway-url.up.railway.app/api

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🔑 Key Concepts Used

Concept	Implementation
JWT Authentication	Stateless auth using signed tokens, no server-side sessions
Password Hashing	bcrypt with salt rounds, passwords never stored in plain text
Protected Routes	Frontend route guard + backend middleware using JWT
User Data Isolation	Every query filtered by req.user.id from decoded JWT
Upsert Pattern	Roadmap topic progress uses findOrCreate for efficiency
Context API	React global auth state without external libraries
Analytics Aggregation	Sequelize fn('DATE') + fn('SUM') for daily study grouping
AI Context Building	User data assembled on frontend into structured prompts before API call

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👤 Built By

Moinuddin Shaikh — Node.js Backend Developer

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📊 GitHub Stats

Built for people who are serious about growth but have limited time.
Every hour you study inside Cresca compounds.