CSCI3100-Project Group 9

CUMarket — CUHK Second-Hand Marketplace SaaS

Overview

CUMarket is a CUHK-focused second-hand marketplace for students to buy/sell items (textbooks, furniture, daily goods). Key workflows: Listings + search/filtering + item status (Available → Reserved → Sold) + real-time chat/notifications.

Project Scope

CUMarket focuses on a safer campus-only marketplace:

• Only CUHK students can register (email domain restricted to @link.cuhk.edu.hk)
• Centralized listings for common campus needs (textbooks, electronics, dorm essentials)
• Faster discovery via search/filtering (with fuzzy search as an enhancement)
• Lower friction communication via real-time chat and notifications

Demo Video

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x9IBHuQ20HOSNvihqyCJx6Pg8jX86SUR/view?usp=sharing

Project Proposal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pZFI09Xlm_pA6fKjwJcew4SsQhj_CRPV6WBCmB0rNFI/edit?usp=sharing

Live Demo (Heroku)

https://csci3100-group9-project-c5b9f4042600.herokuapp.com/

Features

Core

• Community / college space
• Listings workflow (CRUD)
• Item status management: Available → Reserved → Sold
• Search & filtering for listings (keyword + fuzzy match)
• Image upload for listings
• Real-time chat & notifications (ActionCable)

Advanced

• CUHK email verification (restricted to @link.cuhk.edu.hk)
• Admin dashboard (user management + content moderation)
• Fuzzy search + filtering
• Real-time chat

Tech Stack

• Ruby on Rails 8.1
• Database: PostgreSQL + Redis (Upstash in production)
• Cache: Redis :redis_cache_store
• Real-time: ActionCable over Redis pub/sub
• Testing: RSpec (unit) + Cucumber (BDD)
• CI: GitHub Actions
• Deployment: Heroku

Pages

• Login / Register / Verify page
• Homepage (listed items + search function + filter function)
• Community page (posts + comments)
• Chat page (real-time messaging)
• Profile page
• Admin dashboard

Feature Ownership

Primary = main implementer. Secondary = support / reviewer + contributed commits / tests.

Feature Name	Primary Developer	Secondary Developer	Notes
Project skeleton + repo setup	Au Chi Hin	Lau Chi Ho	Rails 8 init, initial structure.
Deployment (Heroku)	Lau Chi Ho		Heroku config + deploy steps.
CI pipeline (GitHub Actions)	Au Chi Hin	Tam Yiu Hei	Run RSpec + Cucumber in CI.
User auth + roles	Tam Yiu Hei		Auth + authorization boundaries.
User Profile	Tam Yiu Hei		User profile editing and related flows.
CUHK email verification + 24h token expiry	Tam Yiu Hei		Domain restriction + verification flow + anti-preload security.
Listings CRUD	Au Chi Hin		Create/edit/delete listings + validations.
Image uploads	Au Chi Hin		Active Storage.
Item status workflow	Au Chi Hin		Available → Reserved → Sold.
Search & filtering	Lau Yat Laam		Keyword search, filters, and fuzzy search.
Community posts	Lau Yat Laam		Community feed, post CRUD, comments, UI polish, search, and fuzzy search.
ActionCable chat / notifications	Lau Chi Ho		Real-time messaging + notifications over Redis.
User banning / suspension	Tam Yiu Hei		Admin-controlled, time-limited bans.
Admin dashboard	Tam Yiu Hei		User management + content moderation.
RSpec + SimpleCov	All members		Shared testing effort across features.
Cucumber BDD scenarios	All members		Shared acceptance testing across features.

Getting Started (Local)

Prerequisites

• Ruby 3.4.7 (see .ruby-version)
• Bundler
• PostgreSQL
• Redis (required for ActionCable real-time chat + cache)

rbenv install 3.4.7
rbenv rehash
brew install postgresql
brew services start postgresql
brew install redis
brew services start redis

Installation

git clone https://github.com/CSCI3100-Project-Group-9/CSCI3100-Project-Group-9.git
cd CSCI3100-Project-Group-9
bundle install
bin/rails db:create db:migrate
bin/rails db:seed   # optional: creates sample data
redis-server
bin/rails server

Running Tests

bundle exec rspec
bundle exec cucumber

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root (see .env.example if present) with the following keys:

Variable	Description
GMAIL_ADDRESS	Gmail sender address (OAuth2)
GMAIL_CLIENT_ID	Gmail OAuth2 client ID
GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET	Gmail OAuth2 client secret
UPSTASH_REDIS_URL	Redis URL for production (Upstash)
APP_HOST	Production app hostname
SECRET_KEY_BASE	Rails secret key base