LinkedUp - Social Networking Platform

LinkedUp is a comprehensive social networking platform built with Django, designed to connect professionals and foster meaningful interactions. It features real-time notifications, premium subscriptions, advanced search capabilities, and analytics to provide insights into user engagement.

🚀 Features

Core Functionality

• User Authentication & Profiles: Secure registration, login, and detailed user profiles
• Posts & Interactions: Create, share, and engage with posts through comments and reactions
• Real-time Notifications: Instant notifications for likes, comments, and follows
• Feed System: Personalized content feed with algorithmic ranking
• Advanced Search: Find users, posts, and content with powerful search capabilities

Premium Features

• Premium Subscriptions: Enhanced features for power users
• Analytics Dashboard: Comprehensive insights into user engagement and content performance
• Priority Support: Dedicated support for premium members

Technical Features

• RESTful API: Complete API coverage with Django REST Framework
• Real-time Updates: WebSocket support for live notifications
• Caching: Redis-based caching for improved performance
• Background Tasks: Celery for asynchronous processing
• Responsive Design: Mobile-first design with skeleton loaders

🛠 Tech Stack

Backend

• Django 4.2.8 - Web framework
• Django REST Framework - API development
• PostgreSQL - Primary database (SQLite for development)
• Redis - Caching and session storage
• Celery - Background task processing

Frontend

• HTML5/CSS3 - Responsive design
• JavaScript (ES6+) - Interactive features
• Skeleton Loaders - Improved UX during loading

DevOps & Tools

• Docker - Containerization
• Gunicorn - WSGI server
• Nginx - Reverse proxy
• pytest - Testing framework
• Black/Flake8 - Code formatting and linting

📋 Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• PostgreSQL (recommended for production) or SQLite (for development)
• Redis (for caching and Celery)
• Docker & Docker Compose (optional, for containerized deployment)

🚀 Installation & Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/linkedup.git
cd linkedup

2. Create Virtual Environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Environment Configuration

# Copy the example settings file
cp config/settings_example.py config/settings.py

# Edit config/settings.py with your configuration
# Update SECRET_KEY, database settings, etc.

5. Database Setup

# Run migrations
python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

# Create superuser
python manage.py createsuperuser

6. Load Sample Data (Optional)

python scripts/seed_data.py

7. Run Development Server

python manage.py runserver

Visit http://localhost:8000 to access the application.

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root:

SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-here
DEBUG=True
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/linkedup
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
EMAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
EMAIL_PORT=587
EMAIL_HOST_USER=your-email@gmail.com
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=your-app-password

Database Configuration

For PostgreSQL, update config/settings.py:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': 'linkedup_db',
        'USER': 'your_db_user',
        'PASSWORD': 'your_db_password',
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': '5432',
    }
}

📖 Usage

API Endpoints

Authentication

• POST /api/v1/auth/login/ - User login
• POST /api/v1/auth/register/ - User registration
• POST /api/v1/auth/logout/ - User logout

Posts

• GET /api/v1/posts/ - List posts
• POST /api/v1/posts/ - Create post
• GET /api/v1/posts/{id}/ - Get post details
• PUT /api/v1/posts/{id}/ - Update post
• DELETE /api/v1/posts/{id}/ - Delete post

Users

• GET /api/v1/users/ - List users
• GET /api/v1/users/{id}/ - Get user profile
• PUT /api/v1/users/{id}/ - Update user profile

Reactions

• POST /api/v1/reactions/ - Add reaction
• DELETE /api/v1/reactions/{id}/ - Remove reaction

Notifications

• GET /api/v1/notifications/ - List notifications
• PUT /api/v1/notifications/{id}/read/ - Mark as read

Frontend Pages

• / - Home feed
• /profile/ - User profile
• /notifications/ - Notifications page

🧪 Testing

Run Tests

# Run all tests
pytest

# Run with coverage
pytest --cov=apps --cov-report=html

# Run specific app tests
pytest tests/api/auth/

Code Quality

# Format code
black .

# Check style
flake8 .

# Sort imports
isort .

🚀 Deployment

Docker Deployment

# Build and run with Docker Compose
docker-compose up -d

# Run migrations in container
docker-compose exec web python manage.py migrate

# Create superuser
docker-compose exec web python manage.py createsuperuser

Production Deployment

1. Set DEBUG = False in settings
2. Configure production database (PostgreSQL)
3. Set up Redis for caching
4. Configure Celery for background tasks
5. Set up Nginx as reverse proxy
6. Enable SSL/TLS certificates
7. Configure environment variables

Environment Setup

# Install production dependencies
pip install gunicorn whitenoise

# Collect static files
python manage.py collectstatic

# Run with Gunicorn
gunicorn config.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000

📁 Project Structure

linkedup/
├── api/                    # API versioning
│   └── v1/
│       ├── router.py       # API routing
│       └── [app]/          # App-specific API views
├── apps/                   # Django apps
│   ├── auth/              # Authentication
│   ├── users/             # User management
│   ├── posts/             # Posts and content
│   ├── comments/          # Comments system
│   ├── reactions/         # Reactions (likes, etc.)
│   ├── notifications/     # Real-time notifications
│   ├── feed/              # Content feed
│   ├── premium/           # Premium features
│   ├── search/            # Search functionality
│   └── analytics/         # Analytics and insights
├── config/                # Django configuration
│   ├── settings.py        # Main settings
│   ├── urls.py            # URL configuration
│   └── wsgi.py            # WSGI application
├── core/                  # Core utilities
│   ├── cache/             # Caching utilities
│   ├── database/          # Database utilities
│   ├── locking/           # Distributed locking
│   ├── pagination/        # Pagination utilities
│   └── security/          # Security utilities
├── docker/                # Docker configuration
├── media/                 # User uploaded files
├── scripts/               # Utility scripts
├── static/                # Static files (CSS, JS, images)
├── templates/             # HTML templates
├── tests/                 # Test suite
└── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow PEP 8 style guidelines
• Write tests for new features
• Update documentation as needed
• Ensure all tests pass before submitting PR

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Django community for the excellent framework
• Django REST Framework for API development
• All contributors and supporters

📞 Support

For support, email support@linkedup.com or join our Discord community.

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Made with ❤️ by the LinkedUp team