GlobeTalk — Virtual Pen Pals 🌍✉️¶

GlobeTalk is a privacy-first, anonymous pen-pal platform that connects people around the world for friendly, cultural, asynchronous “letter” exchanges. It recreates the charm of postal pen pals using modern web tech: random matchmaking, delayed message delivery, short cultural profiles, and moderation — text-only and anonymous by design.

Quick summary¶

Purpose: Help users make anonymous, cross-cultural connections via delayed text letters.
Key constraints: Text-only (no file/media), anonymous (no names/emails published), moderation/reporting, OAuth-based sign-in for account protection.
Target users: Curious learners,language learners, students, and anyone seeking low-pressure cultural exchange.

Team member roles¶

Product Owner & Client:Nathan (Responsible for defining the product vision and prioritizing features.)
Scrum Master:Diana (Facilitates the Scrum process, leads meetings, and ensures the team stays on track.)
Team:The group of individuals who develop, test, and support the product, include:
- Keevon Jacobs
- Makomane Tau
- Ponani Ngobeni
- Khethani Vhuthuhawe
- Smiso Ndlovu
- Diana Bingani

Project Management Methodology¶

Youtube reference: Introduction to scrum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TycLR0TqFA&t=10s

Online Book Source The 2020 Scrum Guide by Schwaber & Sutherland - https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

We have chosen Agile Scrum as our project management methodology. Scrum is an iterative and collaborative framework that divides the project into short, manageable cycles called sprints. Each sprint produces an incremental release, allowing us to continuously improve the product, respond to feedback, and adapt to changing requirements throughout the development process.
Three Key Artifacts in Scrum
- Product Backlog: A comprehensive list of all desired features and requirements for the product, including items planned for future sprints.
- Sprint Backlog: A prioritized list of features and tasks selected from the product backlog for completion during the current sprint.
- Burn Down Chart: A visual representation of progress, showing how much work remains in the sprint backlog over time.
Three Main Ceremonies
- Sprint Planning: All team members meet to discuss user stories, define sprint goals, and estimate the effort required for each task.
- Weekly Scrum (Daily Stand-up): Team members briefly share what they have completed, what they are currently working on, and any obstacles they are facing
- Sprint Review / Retrospective: Held at the end of each sprint. The team demonstrates progress to the client and reflects on what went well and what can be improved in future sprints.
Sequence of our project management methodology
1. Product Backlog
2. Sprint Planning
3. Sprint Backlog
4. Sprint
5. Sprint Review
6. Sprint Retrospective

Features¶

Random Matchmaking — pair users globally with optional filters (language, region/time-zone).
Asynchronous Messaging — write a “letter”, schedule a delivery delay (e.g., 12 hours).
Cultural Profiles — short, anonymous fields (age range, hobbies, region, languages).
Inbox / Compose — thread-based UI for reading and writing letters.
Moderation — reporting, moderation logs, blocking.
Settings & Safety — block/report, toggle match preferences, delete account.

Tech Stack¶

See getting-started/tech-stack.md for full details on our frontend, backend, deployment, and development infrastructure choices.

Git Methodology¶

See workflow/git-methodology.md for our full branching strategy, workflow, code quality checks, and PR rules.

Architecture & Data Model¶

See documentation/architecture.md for full details.

Initial Designs¶

See the link below for our design prototypes for the core features of the system. https://www.figma.com/proto/9nLRwWxWq9rGt9MRAzd8gs/Virtual-pen-pals?node-id=29-6&t=iS525tzkq7e2lfdT-1&scaling=min-zoom&content-scaling=fixed&page-id=0%3A1&starting-point-node-id=29%3A6

GitHub repository link¶

Access our GitHub repository. https://github.com/usmiso/GlobeTalk.git

Summary:
GlobeTalk uses a modular architecture with a Next.js frontend, a backend API for matchmaking and messaging, a NoSQL database for storing users, profiles, matches, and messages, and a worker/scheduler for delayed message delivery. The data model is privacy-focused, with anonymous IDs and moderation logs to ensure safety.

Testing & CI¶

See workflow/testing.md for full details on our testing strategy, tools, and CI/CD setup.

Jest for unit and integration tests
Testing Library for React component tests
GitHub Actions for CI/CD
Codecov for code coverage reporting

NPM Audit¶

In response to recent supply chain attacks on NPM packages, we have conducted a comprehensive security audit of our dependencies. This audit addresses the security vulnerabilities and provides protection measures against compromised packages.

Key Areas Covered: - Analysis of recent NPM supply chain attacks (Debug/Chalk and TinyColor incidents) - Assessment of our package dependencies for compromise - Implementation of protective measures against upstream package infections - Automated security testing tools for continuous monitoring

For the complete security audit report, including detailed vulnerability assessments, compromised package analysis, and implemented security measures, see: NPM Audit Report

Contributing¶

Fork the repo and clone locally
Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add feature')
Push to GitHub and open a Pull Request

See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.

Contact & Support¶

Issues: GitHub Issues
Email: pontshotau097@gmail.com

License¶

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.