🔍 FindIt – Lost & Found System

FindIt is a full-stack web application that helps people report lost and found items and reconnect them with their rightful owners.

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🚀 Overview

Losing items is frustrating — and finding them again is often a matter of luck.

FindIt simplifies this process by allowing users to:

• Report lost items
• Report found items
• Browse all reported items
• Increase chances of reconnecting owners with their belongings

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✨ Features

• 🔐 User authentication (Sign up & Login)
• 📦 Create lost item reports
• 📍 Create found item reports
• 📋 View all reported items
• 🔎 Filter items (Lost / Found)
• 🌐 Clean and responsive UI

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Backend

• Go (Golang)
• SQLite
• net/http (standard library)

Frontend

• HTML
• CSS
• Vanilla JavaScript

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📁 Project Structure

findit/

│

├── internal/

│ ├── db/ # Database setup and migrations

│ ├── handlers/ # API handlers

│ ├── models/ # Data structures

│ └── routes/ # Routing logic

│

├── pkg/

│ └── utils/ # Helper utilities (JSON, JWT)

│

├── frontend/ # UI (HTML, CSS, JS)

│

├── main.go # Application entry point

└── findit.db # SQLite database (auto-created)

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⚙️ Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/findit.git
cd findit

go mod tidy

go run main.go

http://localhost:8080

2. Using Docker (Recommended)

Build and run with Docker Compose

# Build and start the container
docker-compose up -d

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f

# Stop the container
docker-compose down

Build and run with Docker directly

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t findit-server .

# Run the container
docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data --name findit-server findit-server

# View logs
docker logs -f findit-server

# Stop the container
docker stop findit-server

The application will be available at http://localhost:8080

3. Deploy to Render

Prerequisites

• A Render account (https://render.com)
• Your code pushed to a Git repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket)

Deployment Steps

1. Connect your repository to Render:

   • Log in to your Render dashboard
   • Click "New" and select "Web Service"
   • Connect your Git repository

2. Configure the service:

   • Name: findit-server (or your preferred name)
   • Environment: Docker
   • Region: Choose the closest to your users
   • Branch: main (or your deployment branch)
   • Root Directory: Leave empty (if Dockerfile is at root)

3. Set environment variables:

   • PORT: 8080 (Render will set this automatically)
   • DB_PATH: /var/data/findit.db

4. Configure persistent disk:

   • Add a disk with mount path /var/data
   • Size: 1 GB (adjust as needed)

5. Set health check path:

   • Health Check Path: /health

6. Deploy:

   • Click "Create Web Service"
   • Render will automatically build and deploy your application

Using render.yaml (Recommended)

The project includes a render.yaml file for automatic configuration. Simply:

1. Push your code to Git
2. In Render dashboard, click "New" → "Blueprint"
3. Connect your repository
4. Render will automatically detect and apply the configuration

Important Notes for Render

• Database Persistence: The SQLite database is stored on a persistent disk at /var/data/findit.db
• Health Checks: The /health endpoint is used for monitoring
• Auto-deploy: Enabled by default - pushes to your main branch will trigger automatic deployments
• Free Tier: Render's free tier may spin down after inactivity; consider upgrading for production use

Troubleshooting Render Deployment

Error: "no Go files in /opt/render/project/go/src/github.com/..."

This error occurs when Render detects the go.mod file and tries to use a Go buildpack instead of the Dockerfile, even with runtime: docker specified.

Solution 1: Manual Docker Setup (Recommended)

1. Go to Render dashboard → New → Web Service
2. Connect your repository
3. Set Runtime to "Docker"
4. Set Dockerfile Path to "./Dockerfile"
5. Set Docker Context to "."
6. Add environment variables: PORT=8080 and DB_PATH=/var/data/findit.db
7. Add a disk with mount path /var/data
8. Set health check path to /health
9. Deploy

Solution 2: Use Docker Hub

1. Build and push your Docker image to Docker Hub:

   docker build -t yourusername/findit-server .
   docker push yourusername/findit-server

2. In Render, create a new Web Service
3. Set Runtime to "Docker"
4. Set Image to "yourusername/findit-server"
5. Add environment variables and disk as above

Solution 3: Alternative Platforms If Render continues to have issues, consider these alternatives:

• Railway: Supports Docker deployments with persistent volumes
• Fly.io: Excellent Docker support with persistent storage
• DigitalOcean App Platform: Supports Docker with volume mounts
• AWS ECS/Fargate: More complex but very reliable

Note: The render.yaml blueprint may not work reliably when a go.mod file is present. Manual Docker setup is more reliable.

API Endpoints Authentication

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/signup	Register new user
POST	/login	Login user

Items

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/items	Create item (lost/found)
GET	/items	Retrieve all items

Example Request

{

"id": "1",

"user_id": "u1",

"type": "lost",

"name": "Black Phone",

"description": "iPhone with cracked screen",

"location": "Nairobi",

"date": "2026-04-01"

}

-Each item must have a unique ID

-The user_id must exist before creating an item

-The database is created automatically on first run