Mech-Alligator

A product aggregation platform that brings together inventory from trusted Indian resellers, making it easier to find and compare products without hopping between different websites.

What does it do?

Ever wished you could search across multiple Indian resellers at once? That's exactly what Mech-Alligator does. Instead of opening 10 different tabs to check if a product is available, you can search once and see results from all our partner resellers.

Core features:

• Search products across multiple Indian resellers simultaneously
• Compare prices and availability in real-time
• Clean, unified interface that doesn't make your eyes bleed
• No more bookmark folders with 50+ reseller websites

Tech Stack

Frontend: Next.js with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS - because we like our code typed and our styles utility-first.

Backend: Go with PostgreSQL - fast, reliable, and handles concurrent requests like a champ.

Infrastructure: Dockerized everything because "it works on my machine" isn't good enough.

Quick Start

What you'll need

• Docker and Docker Compose (if you don't have these, get them first)
• About 5 minutes of your time

Getting it running

1. Clone this repo:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd mech-alligator

2. Set up your environment variables:

   cp .env.example .env

   Open .env and fill in your configuration. Don't skip this step - the app won't work without proper environment variables.

3. Fire it up:

   docker-compose up --build

That's it. Docker will handle building everything and getting the services talking to each other.

Where to find your app

• Frontend: http://localhost:3000 (or whatever port you configured)
• Backend API: http://localhost:8080 (or your configured backend port)

Development Setup

Frontend only

If you want to work on just the frontend:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

The development server will start at http://localhost:3000 with hot reloading enabled.

Backend only

For backend development:

cd backend
go run cmd/api/main.go        # Start the API server
go run cmd/worker/main.go     # Start the background worker

The API server handles web requests while the worker processes background tasks like updating product data from resellers.

Project Structure

mech-alligator/
├── frontend/           # Next.js app
│   ├── public/        # Static assets (logos, images)
│   └── ...
├── backend/           # Go services
│   ├── cmd/
│   │   ├── api/       # Web API server
│   │   └── worker/    # Background task processor
│   └── ...
├── docker-compose.yaml
└── .env.example

Contributing

Found a bug? Have an idea for improvement? PRs are welcome. Just make sure your code doesn't break existing functionality.