SMARTCOURSE COMPANION
Assignment Setup and Run Guide

1) WHAT YOU NEED TO INSTALL
- Node.js (LTS version recommended): https://nodejs.org/
- npm (installed automatically with Node.js)

2) CHECK INSTALLATION
Open a terminal in this project folder and run:

node -v
npm -v

If both commands show version numbers, your environment is ready.

3) INSTALL PROJECT DEPENDENCIES (RUN ONCE FIRST)
From the project root folder (soen287-group-project), run:

npm install

4) START THE PROJECT
From the same folder, run:

npm start

5) OPEN THE APP
Open this URL in your browser:

http://localhost:3000/html/index.html

6) VERIFY THE BACKEND IS RUNNING
Open this URL:

http://localhost:3000/api/health

Expected response:
{"ok":true}

7) WINDOWS POWERSHELL FIX (IF "npm" IS BLOCKED)
If PowerShell shows a script execution policy error, run:

npm.cmd install
npm.cmd start

8) IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE LOGIN
If login says the backend cannot be reached, make sure:
- You started the server with "npm start" (or "npm.cmd start")
- You opened the app from "http://localhost:3000/html/index.html"
- You did NOT open frontend files directly using a file:// path