Monkeys

Research-first publishing platform: journals, community events, groups, and a social creative studio.

Monkeys is a modern, research-first community platform designed for high-quality technical and scientific writing, community events, collaborative groups, and social graphic creation.

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🏗️ Repository Architecture

This repository is managed as a Turborepo monorepo powered by pnpm workspaces:

the_monkeys/
├── apps/
│   └── the_monkeys/          # Next.js 14 App Router web application
├── packages/
│   ├── ui/                   # Shared UI component library (Radix UI + Tailwind CSS)
│   └── config/               # Shared workspace configurations
├── scripts/                  # Cross-platform utility scripts (host configuration, etc.)
├── docker-compose.yml        # Production Docker Compose definition
├── docker-compose.local.yml  # Local Docker Compose setup (bridges to monkeys_engine network)
└── Dockerfile                # Multi-stage Docker build with runtime environment support

Core Technologies

• Framework: Next.js 14 (App Router) with React 18
• Styling: Tailwind CSS & Radix UI
• Runtime Config: next-runtime-env (build once, deploy anywhere)
• Data Fetching: TanStack Query v5
• Testing: Vitest and @testing-library/react
• Workspace Management: Turborepo with pnpm

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✨ Product Features

• Research Journals & Feed (/feed, /blog/[slug]): Long-form publishing with rich markdown, code syntax highlighting, and LaTeX math formatting via KaTeX.
• Events & RSVP (/events): Discover and organize community meetups, workshops, and scientific talks with integrated RSVP management and calendar integration.
• Research Groups (/groups): Topic-based collaborative spaces for community research and discussions.
• Creative Studio (/snapshot/new, /cards):
  • Social Image Templates: Aspect-ratio-adaptive post graphics (Editorial portrait, 1:1 quotes, Instagram carousels, LinkedIn and X shares).
  • X / Twitter Screenshots: Stylized tweet renders with custom backgrounds and presets.
  • Digital Business Cards: Printable and shareable contact cards (/cards).

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🔗 Backend Integration

The backend is built in Go and maintained in a dedicated repository:

• Repository: Monkeys Engine
• Communication: The frontend connects via HTTP REST endpoints and WebSocket channels configured through environment variables.
• Runtime Variables: Client-side endpoints are injected at container startup using next-runtime-env, eliminating the need to bake endpoints into the build bundle.

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🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js: 18.17.0 or later (refer to .nvmrc)
• pnpm: 10.0.0 or later (configured in package.json)

Tip

If pnpm is not installed globally, bootstrap it using npm run install-deps.

1. Clone & Install Dependencies

git clone https://github.com/the-monkeys/the_monkeys.git
cd the_monkeys
pnpm install

2. Configure Environment Variables

Create .env.local inside apps/the_monkeys:

cp apps/the_monkeys/.env.example apps/the_monkeys/.env.local

Key environment variables:

Variable	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL	Base HTTP endpoint for the backend API
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL_V2	V2 backend HTTP endpoint
NEXT_PUBLIC_WSS_URL	WebSocket endpoint for real-time services
NEXT_PUBLIC_LIVE_URL	Production/Public application URL
AUTH_SECRET	Secret key used for session encryption
NEXT_PUBLIC_GROWTHBOOK_CLIENT_KEY	(Optional) Feature flag client key

3. Local Domain Setup (Recommended)

To allow authentication cookies to share context with a locally running backend:

make setup-hosts
# or on Linux/macOS:
sudo bash ./scripts/setup-hosts.sh
# or on Windows (PowerShell as Admin):
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "scripts/setup-hosts.ps1"

This maps 127.0.0.1 local.monkeys.com.co in your hosts file.

4. Run Development Server

pnpm dev

The application will be accessible at http://localhost:3000 (or http://local.monkeys.com.co:3000 if host mapping is configured).

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🐳 Docker Deployment

The application provides multi-stage Docker builds utilizing next-runtime-env for runtime environment injection.

# 1. Create root environment file
cp .env.local.example .env.local

# 2. Run container connecting to the local backend network
docker compose -f docker-compose.local.yml up

For production deployment:

cp .env.local.example .env  # fill in production values first
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d

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🛠️ Common Commands

All commands can be run from the repository root via Turborepo:

Command	Description
pnpm dev	Start development servers with hot-reload
pnpm build	Run lint checks and create production build
pnpm test	Run Vitest unit and component test suites
pnpm lint	Execute linter across all workspaces
pnpm format	Automatically format code using Prettier and Biome

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🤝 Contributing & License

• Contributions are welcome! Read CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines on setup, branch naming, and pull requests.
• Monkeys is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.