IdeaLab

A full-stack AI-powered idea refinement platform. Capture your ideas, describe them in detail, and let AI surface strengths, weaknesses, next steps, and questions to consider.

Live Demo: https://idea-lab-rho.vercel.app

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Features

• Authentication — Register and log in with secure httpOnly cookie-based auth
• Idea Management — Create, view, and delete ideas
• AI Refinement — Describe your idea and get structured AI feedback powered by Gemini Flash
• Version History — Every refinement is saved as an immutable version, navigate back and forth
• Dark / Light Mode — Theme toggle with localStorage persistence

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Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 19 + TypeScript + Vite
• Tailwind CSS v4 + Shadcn UI
• React Router v6
• Axios + Zod + Sonner

Backend

• Express 5 + TypeScript
• MongoDB + Mongoose
• JWT + bcrypt
• Google Gemini Flash (@google/genai)

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Project Structure

IdeaLab/
├── client/          # React frontend
│   └── src/
│       ├── components/
│       ├── pages/
│       ├── services/
│       ├── context/
│       ├── hooks/
│       └── types/
├── server/          # Express backend
│   └── src/
│       ├── controllers/
│       ├── models/
│       ├── routes/
│       ├── middleware/
│       ├── config/
│       └── types/
└── package.json     # Root with concurrently dev script

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• MongoDB Atlas account
• Google Gemini API key

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/dhruvdeepChakravorty/IdeaLab.git
cd IdeaLab

2. Install all dependencies

npm install
cd client && npm install
cd ../server && npm install

3. Set up environment variables

Create server/.env:

MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_uri
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret
GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173
PORT=3000

Create client/.env:

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:3000/api

4. Run the development server

npm run dev

This starts both frontend (port 5173) and backend (port 3000) concurrently.

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API Routes

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	Register a new user
POST	/api/auth/login	Log in
POST	/api/auth/logout	Log out
GET	/api/auth/me	Get current user
GET	/api/ideas	Get all ideas
POST	/api/ideas	Create an idea
GET	/api/ideas/:id	Get idea by ID
DELETE	/api/ideas/:id	Delete an idea
GET	/api/ideas/:ideaId/versions	Get all versions for an idea
POST	/api/ideas/:ideaId/versions	Create a new version
GET	/api/ideas/:ideaId/versions/latest	Get latest version

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Deployment

• Frontend — Vercel
• Backend — Render
• Database — MongoDB Atlas