Hacktoberfest

Front-end static website for Hacktoberfest, built with Next.js.

Getting Started

• Install the correct version of Node.js, matching the version defined in .nvmrc (and/or engines.node in package.json). We recommend using nvm, or fnm, to manage versions.

• Install dependencies for the project by running npm ci (this will match the exact versions defined in package-lock.json).

• Start the development server by running npm run dev, and then open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Mocked or live

/my is live by default: with NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL unset, the code defaults it to https://hacktoberfest-api.mlh.com (see src/lib/apiBase.mjs), because production cannot set the variable — the zero-configuration build has to be the production one.

The mocked build — fixtures, no backend at all, sign-in fakes a session as Ada Lovelace — now has to be asked for by name:

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=mocked npm run dev

To run against a local backend instead:

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000 npm run dev -- -p 4000

The API listens on port 3000, so the frontend needs a different one — hence -p 4000. Two variables on the API side have to agree with that choice:

• FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:4000 — where the API sends people after MyMLH, so the callback lands on this dev server rather than production
• ALLOWED_DEV_ORIGINS must include http://localhost:4000 — otherwise the browser blocks the code exchange on CORS

Mocked or live is baked in at build time

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL is inlined into the client bundle by npm run build, so the mode is a property of out/, not of the shell you serve it from. Setting the variable in front of npm start changes nothing.

This matters more than it sounds, because npm test runs npm run build (via test:integration). Running the suite therefore rebuilds out/ with whatever the environment held at the time — which will silently rebuild a mocked or local-API build as the live-default one, pointed at production. The symptom is not an error: the "Sign in with MyMLH" button starts redirecting to the real MyMLH instead of writing the Ada Lovelace fixture session, and every page quietly serves the wrong data.

npm start guards against this. The build records its mode in .build-mode.json (gitignored), and prestart refuses to serve when that contradicts the environment you are starting it with, naming the exact rebuild command. It always prints which mode you are getting. Both modes are valid — it only blocks the mismatch. If you rebuild for a different mode, just rerun npm start.

NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH_START_URL is an optional override for where the "Sign in with MyMLH" button sends people. It defaults to ${NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL}/oauth/mlh, which is right whenever the API serves the OAuth hand-off itself; set it only when that hand-off lives somewhere else, such as behind a separate hostname or a proxy. It has no effect in the mocked build (NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=mocked), which never leaves the site.

Contributing

If you're looking to contribute to the website, please take a look through the open issues to see what needs to be done. If you've discovered something you think needs a change that is not covered by an existing issue, please open an issue first to discuss it with the maintainers. We generally will not accept pull requests without an associated issue that has been discussed.

While the website is open-source, we are unable to accept all changes. We're looking for changes that improve the user experience on the site or fix bugs/typos. We're not looking for changes that modify the branding or change how Hacktoberfest operates as a whole.

Configuration

BASE_URL must be set to the public website URL when building the sitemap.

Deployment

The website is deployed to App Platform, for both the production and staging websites. Each environment is deployed to two separate App Platform instances in different regions, with a load balancer in front to handle traffic, ensuring high availability.

The production website is deployed whenever a new commit is pushed to the production branch, which maintainers can do locally using make deploy-production. The staging website is deployed from the staging branch, for which maintainers can use make deploy-staging.

License

Subject to the exceptions below and in the LICENSE, the code for the website is released under the Apache License 2.0.

Please note that Hacktoberfest is a registered trademark of DigitalOcean, and the Hacktoberfest brand is not released under this license.