Meridian

Turn scattered academic achievements into one clear path.

Meridian is a full-stack product for students who need a single, trusted system for the academic story that applications actually ask for — awards, scores, programs, experiences, goals, and reflections — with secure accounts, analytics, and export.

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What problem it solves

Most students keep achievements in the wrong places:

• Scores in a spreadsheet
• Awards in email threads
• Programs in Drive folders
• Goals in notes apps

When an application, interview, or advisor conversation arrives, the story is incomplete. Meridian replaces that fragmentation with one authenticated workspace.

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What Meridian does

Capability	What you get
Accounts	Register / sign in with bcrypt-hashed passwords and JWT sessions
Entries	Create, edit, filter, search, sort, and paginate academic milestones
Categories	Awards, professional experiences, summer programs, test scores, AP scores, GPA, plans, goals, reflections
Analytics	Totals, first/last activity, per-category breakdowns, monthly timeline
Export	Download your data as CSV or JSON
Security model	Every data route is scoped to /me/* — no username-guessing IDOR

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Product walkthrough

1. Sign in / create account — cinematic login explains the problem → solution story, then authenticates.
2. Dashboard — activity summary, category counts, timeline.
3. Entries — add and manage milestones with filters and pagination.
4. Export — pull a portable copy of your journey for applications or backup.

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Architecture (high level)

┌────────────────────┐         JWT Bearer          ┌────────────────────┐
│  Meridian Web      │  ─────────────────────────► │  Meridian API      │
│  React + Vite      │     /auth/*  /me/* /health  │  FastAPI           │
│  React Router      │ ◄─────────────────────────  │  Pydantic schemas  │
└────────────────────┘         JSON / CSV          └─────────┬──────────┘
                                                             │
                                                             ▼
                                                   ┌────────────────────┐
                                                   │  SQLAlchemy ORM    │
                                                   │  Alembic migrations│
                                                   │  SQLite (default)  │
                                                   │  Postgres-ready    │
                                                   └────────────────────┘

For the full stack breakdown (why each choice, request flow, diagrams), see TECHNICAL.md.

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Quick start

Backend

cd backend
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate          # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn app:app --reload --port 8000

• API docs: http://localhost:8000/docs
• Health: http://localhost:8000/health

Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173

Docker

docker compose up --build

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Tests & CI

cd backend
pytest -q

GitHub Actions runs backend tests + frontend production build on every push.

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Repo layout

Meridian/
├── README.md              # Product overview (this file)
├── TECHNICAL.md           # Deep technical design
├── backend/               # FastAPI app, auth, repos, migrations, tests
├── frontend/              # React SPA (login theater, dashboard, entries)
├── docker-compose.yml
├── Dockerfile
└── .github/workflows/ci.yml

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Status

Meridian is the evolved successor of the earlier Atlas portfolio project — same academic-tracking mission, rebuilt with production-shaped auth, /me-scoped APIs, polished product UI, and ship tooling (Docker + CI).