LocalConnect

A service marketplace platform that connects people with local skilled workers in small cities.

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Problem Statement

In small cities, it is still hard to find reliable workers like plumbers, electricians, or carpenters. People depend on word of mouth or random visits to find someone. Workers on the other hand have no good way to reach customers beyond their immediate area. There is no simple system where someone can search, book, and review a local worker without hassle.

Solution

LocalConnect solves this by providing a single place where customers can search for workers by skill and location, book services for specific time slots, and leave reviews after the job is done. Workers get a profile, manage incoming bookings, and build a reputation through ratings. It is built with small cities in mind — the interface is kept simple and the flow is straightforward.

Features

• User authentication — Separate registration and login for customers and workers
• Worker profiles — Skills, location, price range, and rating displayed on each profile
• Booking system — Customers can book a worker for a specific date and time
• Booking status flow — Every booking moves through a controlled lifecycle: Pending to Confirmed to Completed or Cancelled
• Review and rating — After a booking is completed, customers can leave a rating and comment
• Dashboard — Customers see their bookings. Workers see incoming requests and manage them
• Overlap prevention — Workers cannot be double-booked for overlapping time slots
• Duplicate booking prevention — The same booking cannot be submitted twice

Tech Stack

Frontend:

• React with Vite
• Tailwind CSS
• shadcn/ui components
• Axios for API calls
• React Router for navigation

Backend:

• Node.js and Express
• MongoDB with Mongoose
• JWT for authentication
• bcrypt for password hashing

How It Works

1. A user registers as a customer or a worker
2. Customers browse and search workers by skill or location
3. A customer selects a worker, picks a service and time slot, and creates a booking
4. The worker sees the booking and can accept it
5. After the service is done, the worker marks the booking as completed
6. The customer leaves a review and rating
7. The worker rating is recalculated automatically

Screenshots

Add screenshots here.

Setup Instructions

Backend:

cd server
npm install

Create a .env file inside the server directory and add your variables (see below).

npm run dev

Frontend:

cd client
npm install
npm run dev

The frontend runs on port 5173 and the backend on port 5000.

Running with Docker:

This project includes a docker-compose.yml file that runs the backend and MongoDB together.

docker compose up --build -d

The backend will be available on http://localhost:5000 and MongoDB on localhost:27017.

To stop the containers:

docker compose down

To stop and remove the database volume:

docker compose down -v

Note: the frontend still needs to be run locally with npm run dev since it uses Vite's development server.

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the server folder with these values:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
JWT_SECRET=your_secret_key

Do not share this file or commit it to the repository.

Future Improvements

• Online payment integration
• In-app messaging between customers and workers
• Email or SMS notifications for booking updates
• Mobile application
• Better search with location-based filtering

Author

This project was built as part of my full-stack development learning. I wanted to build a real-world system with proper backend logic, clean architecture, and a usable frontend. The focus was on getting the details right — booking validation, role-based access, and data consistency — rather than adding unnecessary features.