DSEC Notebook

Live site

A centralised resource hub for Deakin University students studying SIT (IT, computer science, and cybersecurity) and Mathematics units. Students can share study notes, ask questions, and browse content organised by unit and topic.

Written by students, for students. This project is not affiliated with Deakin University.

Features

• 📚 Notes — post study notes in Markdown, organised by unit and topic.
• ❓ Questions & answers — ask questions, post answers, and mark questions as solved.
• 💬 Comments — discuss notes directly.
• 👍 Voting — upvote or downvote notes and questions.
• 🔍 Search — find notes by title or content.
• 🎓 Deakin-only accounts — only @deakin.edu.au email addresses can contribute. Create an account with a password after verifying your email, then sign in with email and password.
• 🛠️ Admin dashboard — manage units, accounts, and notes, plus weekly posting statistics. The first person to open the dashboard verifies their email to become the admin.
• 🗂️ Units & topics — browse content by Deakin unit code (e.g. SIT102, SIT192) or topic (e.g. Algorithms, Mathematics).
• 💾 Persistent storage — all data is stored in a local SQLite database.

Tech stack

• SvelteKit with Svelte 5
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS 4
• adapter-node for the Node.js server
• Node's built-in node:sqlite for persistence
• Vitest for unit and browser tests

Requirements

• Node.js 24 or newer (Node 22+ may work, but the project is developed and containerised against Node 24)
• npm

Getting started

1. Clone the repository and install dependencies:

   npm install
   

2. Configure environment variables:

   cp .env .env.local
   

   DATABASE_PATH defaults to data/dsec.db. To send verification emails, set RESEND_API_KEY (get one at https://resend.com/api-keys). Without it, email verification will fail.

3. Start the development server:

   npm run dev
   

4. Open the URL printed in the terminal (usually http://localhost:5173).

Environment variables

Variable	Description	Default
DATABASE_PATH	Path to the SQLite database file	data/dsec.db
RESEND_API_KEY	Resend API key for verification emails	(required)
RESEND_FROM	"From" address for verification emails	DSEC Notebook <onboarding@resend.dev>
HOST	Host the Node server binds to (build)	0.0.0.0
PORT	Port the Node server listens on (build)	3000

Scripts

Script	Description
npm run dev	Start the Vite/SvelteKit development server
npm run build	Build a production bundle
npm run preview	Preview the production build locally
npm run check	Run svelte-check type checking
npm test	Run unit and browser tests once
npm run test:unit	Run tests in watch mode

Running with Docker

A Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml are included. The app runs on port 3000 inside the container and is mapped to host port 4073.

docker compose up --build

Then open http://localhost:4073.

The SQLite database is persisted in the dsec-data Docker volume. To change the exposed port, edit docker-compose.yml.

Project structure

src/
├── lib/
│   ├── components/     # Reusable UI components (Navbar, FeedRow, VoteStack)
│   ├── server/         # Server-side API and SQLite database logic
│   ├── stores/         # Svelte stores (auth state)
│   ├── api.ts          # Client-side API helper
│   ├── types.ts        # Shared TypeScript types
│   └── time.ts         # Relative time formatting
├── routes/
│   ├── +page.svelte    # Home page
│   ├── +layout.svelte  # App layout and nav
│   ├── notes/          # Notes feed and note detail pages
│   ├── questions/      # Questions feed and question detail pages
│   ├── post/           # Create note / question forms
│   ├── topics/[slug]/  # Topic pages
│   ├── units/[code]/   # Unit pages
│   ├── search/         # Search page
│   ├── auth/login/     # Sign in page
│   ├── admin/          # Admin dashboard
│   └── api/+server.ts  # JSON API endpoint
└── app.html

How it works

• The frontend calls a single JSON API endpoint (POST /api) with a function name and arguments.
• The server dispatches those calls to handlers in src/lib/server/api.ts, backed by SQLite.
• On first run, the database is created automatically and seeded with common Deakin SIT/Math units and CS/maths topics.
• Authentication is email-verified: to create an account you sign in with a @deakin.edu.au address, a 6-digit code is sent via Resend, and after entering the code you set a password. Once created, you sign in with just your email and password. A "forgot password" flow sends a reset code to your Deakin address so you can set a new password. Passwords are stored as salted scrypt hashes, and sessions are stored as tokens in localStorage.

Data model

The SQLite database contains the following tables:

• users — Deakin email accounts (each has a role: user or admin)
• units — Deakin unit codes and names
• topics — CS and maths topics
• notes — shared study notes
• questions — student questions
• comments — note comments and question answers
• votes — upvotes/downvotes on notes and questions
• email_verifications — pending email verification codes

Disclaimer

DSEC Notebook is a community resource for Deakin University students. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Deakin University.