🎓 MentorCircle

MentorCircle is a modern STEM learning collaboration platform where students and mentors connect through focused learning circles.

The platform enables:

• 👨‍🏫 Mentor-guided communities
• 🤝 Peer collaboration
• 🔒 Private/Public learning circles
• 💬 Discussions and resources
• 👥 Role-based participation
• 🧠 AI-inspired collaborative learning workflows

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✨ Features

🔐 Authentication

• JWT Authentication
• Signup/Login
• Role selection (Student / Mentor)
• Profile management
• Protected routes

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🌐 Circles System

• Public and Private circles
• Create circle
• Join circle
• Join request approval system
• Owner / Mentor / Member roles
• Leave circle
• Archive/Delete circle
• Ownership transfer logic

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👨‍🏫 Mentors & Peers

• Mentor discovery
• Peer collaboration
• Role-based rendering
• Clean participant filtering
• Duplicate prevention

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💬 Discussions

• Circle-based discussions
• Real-time-ready architecture
• Private circle access control

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👤 Profile System

• Editable profile
• Profile image upload
• Skills & interests
• Learning goals
• Mentor expertise

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🛠️ Tech Stack

🎨 Frontend

• React.js
• React Router
• Tailwind CSS
• Axios
• React Hot Toast
• Lucide Icons

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⚙️ Backend

• Django
• Django REST Framework
• JWT Authentication
• SQLite/PostgreSQL
• DRF Pagination

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📁 Project Structure

🎨 Frontend

frontend/
├── src/
│   ├── api/
│   ├── components/
│   ├── context/
│   ├── layouts/
│   ├── pages/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── services/
│   └── utils/

⚙️ Backend

backend/
├── users/
├── circles/
├── mentors/
├── discussions/
├── ai_engine/
└── backend/

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🚀 Setup Instructions

📥 Clone Repository

git clone <repo-url>
cd MentorCircle

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🔧 Environment Setup

Backend

cd backend
cp .env.example .env

Frontend

cd frontend
cp .env.example .env

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⚙️ Backend Setup

cd backend

python -m venv venv

# Windows
venv\Scripts\activate

# macOS/Linux
source venv/bin/activate

pip install -r requirements.txt

python manage.py migrate

python manage.py runserver

Backend:

http://127.0.0.1:8000

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🎨 Frontend Setup

cd frontend

npm install

npm run dev

Frontend:

http://localhost:5173

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📚 API Documentation

Swagger

/api/docs/

Redoc

/api/redoc/

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🔗 Main API Endpoints

🔐 Authentication

/api/auth/signup/
/api/auth/login/
/api/auth/profile/
/api/auth/logout/

🌐 Circles

/api/circles/
/api/circles/<id>/
/api/circles/create/
/api/circles/join/
/api/circles/leave/

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👥 Role Hierarchy

👑 Owner

• Manages circle
• Accepts requests
• Archives circles
• Transfers ownership

🎯 Mentor

• Guides learners
• Participates in discussions

👤 Member

• Joins circles
• Collaborates with peers

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🎨 UI Theme

• 🔵 Navy Blue + White SaaS theme
• 🪟 Rounded modern cards
• 📱 Responsive layouts
• ✨ Minimal clean interface

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⚡ Important System Behaviors

• Soft delete architecture
• Duplicate participant prevention
• Private circle approval flow
• Ownership transfer logic
• Role-based rendering consistency
• Pagination support

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❤️ Author

Built for collaborative STEM learning and mentor-driven communities.