CampusHelper

Problem

Campus lost-and-found posts need a searchable, authenticated flow where users can report items, add images, and find relevant matches.

Users and context

Built for campus communities that need a practical web flow for reporting and searching lost or found items.

Product workflow

Users sign in, create item reports with details and uploads, search existing posts, and review relevant lost-and-found entries.

Architecture

A React frontend connects to a Node.js backend with PostgreSQL-backed data flows for authentication, uploads, and search.

Key engineering decisions

• Used authenticated flows so item reports can be tied to accountable user actions.
• Included uploads and full-text search to make reports easier to identify and retrieve.
• Shipped a live deployment to prove the product can run beyond a local tutorial demo.

Tradeoffs and limitations

• Adding uploads and search increases backend surface area compared with a static listing board.

Next improvements

• Improve moderation and matching flows for duplicate or related item reports.