MindHive – All-in-one Productivity Tool for students

Introduction

MindHive is an all-in-one productivity ecosystem built to help students stay organized, focused, and academically accountable. It combines task management, note-taking, Pomodoro tracking, course organization, and a competitive leaderboard into one seamless platform. The system is engineered with a secure Node.js backend, a structured MySQL database, and a clean EJS-driven interface that prioritizes simplicity and speed.

The platform gives users a centralized dashboard where they can track deadlines, manage coursework, log Pomodoro sessions, earn points, and compare progress with peers. Soft-deletion, profile customization, and secure JWT-based authentication ensure a reliable and user-friendly experience.

Core Features

• Secure User System

MindHive uses JWT access and refresh tokens, bcrypt hashing, secure cookies, and middleware validation to protect user sessions and data integrity. Users stay logged in seamlessly, with a refresh-token flow that maintains security without friction.

• Notes and Course Management

Users can create, edit, organize, and archive notes tied to specific courses. Soft-deletion allows notes to be moved to a Trash section for 30 days before expiration, making data recovery simple and safe.

• Tasks and Deadlines

A full CRUD task manager allows students to track assignments, set due dates, and mark tasks as complete. The dashboard highlights today’s tasks for quick visibility.

• Pomodoro Sessions with Points

Every productivity session is logged in the database, awarding points that boost users’ leaderboard ranking. The dashboard timer is fast, clean, and integrated into the user’s daily workflow.

• Leaderboard System

MindHive ranks users based on accumulated Pomodoro points, adding a competitive layer to productivity. Rankings update dynamically and reward consistency.

• Profile Settings

Users can update their profile photo through a Supabase storage integration, change passwords, and manage account details from a minimal and responsive Settings page.

Technical Architecture

MindHive follows a clean, modular architecture with dedicated layers for:

• Routes

• Controllers

• Services

• Middleware

• Database layer

This separation improves readability, maintainability, and scalability.

The backend is built with Node.js, Express.js, mysql2, JWT, and bcrypt.
The frontend uses EJS, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript, ensuring fast server-rendered pages.
API endpoints are fully documented with Swagger, accessible online for testing and development.

Database Design

The relational schema includes tables for:

• Users

• Courses

• Notes

• Tasks

• Pomodoro sessions

• Refresh tokens

• Trash

UI and User Experience

MindHive’s UI is intentionally modern and distraction-free.
It includes:
• a dashboard with widgets
• notes and tasks pages
• a dynamic leaderboard
• profile settings
• trash management

All views are designed using consistent EJS templates and a clean aesthetic with device-theme compatibility.