ZipLiner

The private professional network for ZipCode Wilmington students & alumni.

Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	Elixir / Phoenix 1.7
Frontend	HTMX 1.9 + Tailwind CSS
Database	SQLite3 (via ecto_sqlite3)
Auth	GitHub OAuth2 (required) + LinkedIn URL (optional)
Real-time	Phoenix PubSub / WebSockets

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Elixir >= 1.14
• Erlang/OTP >= 25
• Node.js >= 18 (for asset building)
• A GitHub OAuth App (for authentication)

Setup

# Install dependencies
mix setup

# Set your GitHub OAuth credentials (dev only — also accepts env vars)
# Edit config/dev.exs or export:
export GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
export GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret

# Start the server
mix phx.server

Visit http://localhost:4000.

GitHub OAuth App Configuration

When creating your GitHub OAuth App at https://github.com/settings/developers:

Field	Value
Application name	ZipLiner
Homepage URL	http://localhost:4000
Authorization callback URL	http://localhost:4000/auth/github/callback

Important: The Application name is what GitHub displays to users on the authorization page ("Authorize ZipLiner to access your account"). Make sure it is set to ZipLiner — not your personal GitHub username or any other value.

Project Structure

lib/
├── zip_liner/
│   ├── accounts/        # Member & Cohort schemas + context
│   ├── social/          # Connections, Posts, Channels, Reactions, Replies, DMs
│   ├── projects/        # Project Showcase
│   ├── notifications/   # In-app notifications
│   ├── application.ex
│   ├── mailer.ex
│   └── repo.ex
└── zip_liner_web/
    ├── admin/           # Admin controllers (Cohorts, Members)
    ├── components/      # Layouts, CoreComponents
    ├── controllers/     # Page, Auth, Feed, Member, Post, Project, etc.
    ├── plugs/           # LoadCurrentMember, RequireAuth
    ├── endpoint.ex
    ├── gettext.ex
    ├── router.ex
    └── telemetry.ex

Data Model

Entity	Key Fields
Member	github_id, github_username, display_name, cohort_id, role, status
Cohort	name, start_date, graduation_date
Connection	member_id_a, member_id_b, status (pending/accepted)
Post	type, content, author_id, channel_id
Reaction	kind (thumbs_up/fire/lightbulb/celebrate), post_id, member_id
Reply	content, post_id, author_id
Project	name, description, repo_url, demo_url, status, tech_stack
Channel	name, type (cohort/topic/staff/dm)
DirectMessage	content, sender_id, recipient_id
Notification	type, payload, recipient_id, read_at

Running Tests

mix test

Docker

Quick start with Docker Compose

# Copy the example env file and fill in your credentials
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your values, then:
docker compose up --build

The SQLite database is stored in a named Docker volume (zipliner_data) and is automatically preserved across container restarts and re-builds.

Database migrations run automatically every time the container starts.

Required environment variables

Variable	Description
SECRET_KEY_BASE	64-byte secret — generate with mix phx.gen.secret
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID	GitHub OAuth App client ID
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET	GitHub OAuth App client secret
PHX_HOST	Public hostname (default: localhost)
PORT	Port to expose on the host (default: 4000)

Building the image manually

docker build -t zipliner .
docker run -d \
  -p 4000:4000 \
  -v zipliner_data:/data \
  -e SECRET_KEY_BASE=<secret> \
  -e GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=<id> \
  -e GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=<secret> \
  -e PHX_HOST=<hostname> \
  zipliner

Production Deployment

# Build assets
mix assets.deploy

# Set required environment variables:
export SECRET_KEY_BASE=$(mix phx.gen.secret)
export GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=...
export GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=...
export DATABASE_PATH=/path/to/zipliner_prod.db
export PHX_HOST=yourdomain.com
export PORT=4000

MIX_ENV=prod mix ecto.migrate
MIX_ENV=prod mix phx.server