SkillSync 🚀

AI-Powered Skills Tracking and Learning Recommendation Platform

SkillSync is a modern full-stack web application that helps developers and professionals track their learning journey, get AI-powered recommendations, and automatically sync their GitHub activity to discover new skills.

🌟 Features

Core Features

• 📊 Skills Management - Track and manage your technical skills with proficiency levels
• 📝 Activity Tracking - Log learning activities (courses, projects, practice sessions)
• 🎯 Milestone Planning - Set and track learning goals with deadlines
• 📈 Analytics Dashboard - Visualize progress with interactive charts
• 🤖 AI Recommendations - Get personalized learning paths powered by Google Gemini
• 🔗 GitHub Integration - Automatically sync repositories and detect programming languages
• 📧 Email Notifications - Weekly summaries and milestone reminders
• ⏰ Background Jobs - Automated data synchronization with Hangfire

Technical Highlights

• Modern Architecture - Clean, maintainable codebase following best practices
• Responsive Design - Beautiful UI built with TailwindCSS and MudBlazor
• Real-time Updates - Dynamic charts and live data visualization with ApexCharts
• Secure Authentication - JWT-based auth with refresh tokens
• Comprehensive Testing - Unit and integration tests with automated CI/CD
• API Documentation - Interactive documentation with Scalar

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🏗️ Architecture

Technology Stack

Backend:

• ASP.NET Core 10 Web API
• Entity Framework Core 10
• SQL Server
• Hangfire (Background Jobs)
• Google Gemini AI (gemini-2.5-flash-lite)
• JWT Authentication
• Serilog (Logging)
• FluentValidation

Frontend:

• Blazor WebAssembly
• TailwindCSS
• MudBlazor
• Blazor-ApexCharts
• Blazored LocalStorage
• Markdig (Markdown rendering)

Infrastructure:

• GitHub Actions (CI/CD)
• xUnit (Testing)
• Moq & FluentAssertions
• Octokit (GitHub API)

Project Structure

SkillSync/
├── SkillSync.Api/              # Backend Web API
│   ├── Controllers/            # API endpoints
│   ├── Services/              # Business logic
│   │   ├── Activities/        # Activity management
│   │   ├── AI/                # AI recommendation service
│   │   ├── Analytics/         # Analytics & reporting
│   │   ├── Auth/              # Authentication & authorization
│   │   ├── BackgroundJobs/    # Hangfire background jobs
│   │   ├── GitHub/            # GitHub integration
│   │   ├── Milestones/        # Milestone management
│   │   ├── Notifications/     # Email notifications
│   │   └── Skills/            # Skills management
│   ├── Data/                  # Database entities & DbContext
│   ├── DTOs/                  # Data transfer objects
│   ├── Validators/            # FluentValidation rules
│   └── Migrations/            # EF Core migrations
├── SkillSync.Web/             # Blazor WebAssembly Frontend
│   ├── Pages/                 # Razor pages
│   ├── Services/              # API client services
│   ├── Models/                # Frontend models
│   ├── Auth/                  # Authentication providers
│   ├── Layout/                # Layout components
│   └── wwwroot/               # Static assets
├── Tests/
│   ├── SkillSync.Tests.Unit/          # Unit tests
│   └── SkillSync.Tests.Integration/   # Integration tests
└── .github/
    └── workflows/             # CI/CD pipelines

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK
• SQL Server or SQL Server LocalDB
• Node.js (for TailwindCSS)
• Visual Studio 2022 or VS Code
• Git

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/bykeny/SkillSync.git
   cd SkillSync

2. Configure Database

   Update connection string in SkillSync.Api/appsettings.json:

   {
     "ConnectionStrings": {
       "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=SkillSyncDb;Trusted_Connection=true;MultipleActiveResultSets=true;TrustServerCertificate=true"
     }
   }

3. Configure API Keys

   Add your API keys to SkillSync.Api/appsettings.json:

   {
     "Gemini": {
       "ApiKey": "your-gemini-api-key",
       "Model": "gemini-2.5-flash-lite"
     },
     "GitHub": {
       "ClientId": "your-github-client-id",
       "ClientSecret": "your-github-client-secret",
       "RedirectUri": "https://localhost:7065/api/github/callback"
     },
     "Email": {
       "SmtpHost": "smtp.gmail.com",
       "SmtpPort": 587,
       "SmtpUsername": "your-email@gmail.com",
       "SmtpPassword": "your-app-password",
       "FromEmail": "skillsync@gmail.com",
       "FromName": "SkillSync"
     },
     "JwtSettings": {
       "Secret": "your-jwt-secret-key-min-32-chars",
       "Issuer": "SkillSyncAPI",
       "Audience": "SkillSyncWeb"
     }
   }

   💡 Tip: Use User Secrets for development: dotnet user-secrets set "Gemini:ApiKey" "your-key"

4. Apply Database Migrations

   cd SkillSync.Api
   dotnet ef database update

5. Build TailwindCSS

   cd ../SkillSync.Web
   npm install
   npm run css:build

6. Run the Application

   In Visual Studio:

   • Set multiple startup projects (SkillSync.Api + SkillSync.Web)
   • Press F5

   Or via command line:

   # Terminal 1 - API
   cd SkillSync.Api
   dotnet run
   
   # Terminal 2 - Web
   cd SkillSync.Web
   dotnet run

7. Access the Application

   • Frontend: https://localhost:7074
   • API: https://localhost:7065/scalar/v1 (Scalar API Docs)
   • Hangfire Dashboard: https://localhost:7065/hangfire

---

📖 Usage Guide

Getting Started

1. Register an Account

   • Navigate to https://localhost:7074
   • Click "Sign up" and create your account

2. Add Your First Skill

   • Go to Skills page
   • Click "Add Skill"
   • Enter skill details (name, proficiency level, target level)
   • Select a category

3. Track Activities

   • Navigate to Activities
   • Log learning activities (courses, projects, practice)
   • Link activities to skills

4. Get AI Recommendations

   • Go to Recommendations
   • Click "Learning Path" and select a skill
   • Get personalized step-by-step guidance powered by Google Gemini
   • Generate weekly schedules and gap analysis

5. Connect GitHub

   • Navigate to GitHub page
   • Click "Connect with GitHub"
   • Authorize the app
   • View your repositories and language stats
   • Skills are auto-created from detected languages

6. View Analytics

   • Check the Analytics dashboard
   • View progress charts, skill radar, and activity timeline
   • Filter by date range (7, 14, 30, or 90 days)

---

🧪 Testing

Run All Tests

dotnet test

Run Unit Tests Only

dotnet test Tests/SkillSync.Tests.Unit

Run Integration Tests Only

dotnet test Tests/SkillSync.Tests.Integration

Generate Code Coverage

dotnet test --collect:"XPlat Code Coverage"

---

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

For production deployment, use environment variables instead of appsettings.json:

ConnectionStrings__DefaultConnection="your-connection-string"
JwtSettings__Secret="your-jwt-secret"
JwtSettings__Issuer="SkillSyncAPI"
JwtSettings__Audience="SkillSyncWeb"
Gemini__ApiKey="your-gemini-key"
Gemini__Model="gemini-2.5-flash-lite"
GitHub__ClientId="your-github-client-id"
GitHub__ClientSecret="your-github-client-secret"
Email__SmtpHost="smtp.gmail.com"
Email__SmtpPort="587"
Email__SmtpUsername="your-email@gmail.com"
Email__SmtpPassword="your-app-password"

JWT Configuration

The application uses JWT with refresh tokens:

• Access Token: 15 minutes
• Refresh Token: 7 days
• Tokens are stored in LocalStorage (frontend)
• Refresh tokens are stored in database with rotation

Background Jobs

Scheduled jobs run automatically via Hangfire:

• Weekly Summary: Every Monday at 9 AM
• Milestone Reminders: Daily at 8 AM
• GitHub Sync: Daily at 2 AM

You can monitor and manage jobs at https://localhost:7065/hangfire

---

📊 API Documentation

Authentication Endpoints

Register

POST /api/auth/register
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "password": "SecurePassword123!",
  "confirmPassword": "SecurePassword123!",
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Doe"
}

Login

POST /api/auth/login
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "password": "SecurePassword123!"
}

Response:

{
  "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
  "refreshToken": "refresh-token-here",
  "expiresIn": 900
}

Refresh Token

POST /api/auth/refresh
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "refreshToken": "your-refresh-token"
}

Skills Endpoints

All skills endpoints require authentication (Bearer token).

Get All Skills

GET /api/skills
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Create Skill

POST /api/skills
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "C# Programming",
  "description": "Learning C# and .NET",
  "proficiencyLevel": 3,
  "targetLevel": 5,
  "categoryId": 1
}

Update Skill

PUT /api/skills/{id}
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "C# Programming",
  "proficiencyLevel": 4,
  "targetLevel": 5,
  "isActive": true
}

AI Recommendations

Get Learning Path

POST /api/recommendations/learning-path/{skillId}
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Returns a personalized learning path with steps, resources, and timeline.

For complete API documentation, visit https://localhost:7065/scalar/v1 when running the application.

---

🚀 Deployment

Azure App Service

1. Create Azure Resources

   az group create --name SkillSyncRG --location eastus
   az appservice plan create --name SkillSyncPlan --resource-group SkillSyncRG --sku B1
   az webapp create --name skillsync-api --resource-group SkillSyncRG --plan SkillSyncPlan --runtime "DOTNET|10.0"

2. Deploy API

   cd SkillSync.Api
   dotnet publish -c Release
   az webapp deploy --resource-group SkillSyncRG --name skillsync-api --src-path bin/Release/net10.0/publish

3. Configure Environment Variables

   az webapp config appsettings set --resource-group SkillSyncRG --name skillsync-api --settings \
     ConnectionStrings__DefaultConnection="your-connection-string" \
     JwtSettings__Secret="your-jwt-secret" \
     Gemini__ApiKey="your-gemini-key"

Docker (Optional)

# Dockerfile for API
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:10.0 AS base
WORKDIR /app
EXPOSE 80
EXPOSE 443

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:10.0 AS build
WORKDIR /src
COPY ["SkillSync.Api/SkillSync.Api.csproj", "SkillSync.Api/"]
RUN dotnet restore "SkillSync.Api/SkillSync.Api.csproj"
COPY . .
WORKDIR "/src/SkillSync.Api"
RUN dotnet build "SkillSync.Api.csproj" -c Release -o /app/build

FROM build AS publish
RUN dotnet publish "SkillSync.Api.csproj" -c Release -o /app/publish

FROM base AS final
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=publish /app/publish .
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "SkillSync.Api.dll"]

---

🔒 Security

Implemented Security Measures

• ✅ JWT authentication with refresh tokens
• ✅ Password hashing with ASP.NET Identity
• ✅ HTTPS enforcement
• ✅ CORS configuration
• ✅ SQL injection prevention (EF Core parameterized queries)
• ✅ XSS protection (Blazor auto-escaping)
• ✅ Input validation with FluentValidation
• ✅ User Secrets support for local development
• ✅ Rate limiting on authentication endpoints

Security Best Practices

• Never commit API keys or secrets to version control
• Use User Secrets during development: dotnet user-secrets
• Use environment variables in production
• Rotate JWT secrets regularly
• Enable 2FA for GitHub OAuth
• Keep dependencies updated
• Review security advisories regularly

---

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Coding Standards

• Follow C# coding conventions
• Write unit tests for new features (aim for 70%+ coverage)
• Use FluentValidation for input validation
• Update documentation
• Keep commits atomic and descriptive
• Ensure all tests pass before submitting PR

---

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2026 Kanan Ramazanov

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• Google Gemini - AI-powered recommendations using gemini-2.5-flash-lite
• GitHub - OAuth and API integration via Octokit
• TailwindCSS - Beautiful, responsive styling
• MudBlazor - Comprehensive Blazor component library
• ApexCharts - Interactive data visualization
• Hangfire - Reliable background job processing
• Scalar - Modern API documentation

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📧 Contact

Kanan Ramazanov

Project Link: https://github.com/bykeny/SkillSync

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🗺️ Roadmap

• Core skills and activity tracking
• AI-powered recommendations with Google Gemini
• GitHub integration with Octokit
• Analytics dashboard with ApexCharts
• Background jobs and email notifications
• CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions
• Mobile app (React Native or .NET MAUI)
• Social features (share progress, follow others)
• Gamification (badges, achievements, streaks)
• Team collaboration features
• Learning resource marketplace
• Browser extension for quick activity logging
• Export/import functionality
• Dark mode theme support

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Built with ❤️ using .NET 10 and Blazor WebAssembly