DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md

AITutor - Easy Deployment Structure

🎯 Project Overview

Your AITutor application has been restructured for easy deployment with separate frontend and backend modules.

📁 New Structure

aitutor/
├── backend/              # 🐍 FastAPI Backend (Deploy to Render)
│   ├── app/             # Application code
│   ├── requirements.txt  # Python dependencies
│   ├── render.yaml      # Render configuration
│   ├── .env.example     # Environment template
│   ├── deploy.sh        # One-command deployment
│   └── README.md        # Backend deployment guide
│
├── frontend/            # 🌐 Next.js Frontend (Deploy to Vercel)
│   ├── app/             # React components
│   ├── package.json     # Node.js dependencies
│   ├── vercel.json      # Vercel configuration
│   ├── .env.example     # Environment template
│   ├── deploy.sh        # One-command deployment
│   └── README.md        # Frontend deployment guide
│
├── src/                 # Original structure (still works)
├── deployment/          # Additional deployment tools
├── docs/               # Documentation
└── README.md           # Main project guide

🚀 Super Quick Deployment

1. Backend to Render

cd backend
cp .env.example .env
# Add your OPENROUTER_API_KEY to .env
./deploy.sh

2. Frontend to Vercel

cd frontend
cp .env.example .env.local
# Add your backend URL to .env.local
./deploy.sh

✨ Benefits

• 🔥 One-command deployment: ./deploy.sh in each module
• 🚀 Independent services: Deploy frontend/backend separately
• ⚡ Faster builds: Smaller codebases
• 👥 Team collaboration: Frontend/backend teams work independently
• 📱 Separate scaling: Scale services independently
• 🛠 Easy maintenance: Update one service without affecting other

🌐 Production URLs

After deployment:

• Backend: https://aitutor-backend.onrender.com
• Frontend: https://aitutor-frontend.vercel.app
• API Docs: https://aitutor-backend.onrender.com/docs

📚 Documentation

• QUICK_DEPLOY.md: Step-by-step deployment
• MODULAR_DEPLOYMENT.md: Complete modular guide
• backend/README.md: Backend-specific guide
• frontend/README.md: Frontend-specific guide

🔧 Environment Variables

Backend (.env)

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key-here
PORT=8000
NODE_ENV=production

Frontend (.env.local)

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://aitutor-backend.onrender.com
NODE_ENV=production

✅ Ready to Deploy!

Both modules are production-ready with:

• ✅ Deployment configurations
• ✅ Environment variable templates
• ✅ One-command deploy scripts
• ✅ Individual README guides
• ✅ Health checks
• ✅ Error handling

Choose your deployment option and deploy in minutes! 🎉