Feat: Add multi-interest support to Recommender Engine 1172

src/routes/main_routes.py

@@ -134,18 +134,25 @@ def recommend():
         return jsonify({"error": "Request body must be valid JSON."}), 400
 
     # Reject non-string values (e.g. null, lists, numbers) before calling .strip()
-    string_fields = ("skills", "level", "interest", "time", "tech_stack")
+    string_fields = ("skills", "level", "time", "tech_stack")
     for field in string_fields:
         value = payload.get(field)
         if value is not None and not isinstance(value, str):
             return jsonify({"error": f"'{field}' must be a string value."}), 400
 
     skills            = (payload.get("skills") or "").strip()
     level             = (payload.get("level") or "").strip()
-    interest          = (payload.get("interest") or "").strip()
     time_availability = (payload.get("time") or "").strip()
     tech_stack        = (payload.get("tech_stack") or "").strip()
 
+    interest = payload.get("interest")
+    if isinstance(interest, str):
+        interest = [interest.strip()]
+    elif isinstance(interest, list):
+        interest = [i.strip() for i in interest if isinstance(i, str)]
+    else:
+        interest = []
+
     # Explicitly check if skills string field is empty to prevent underlying scoring engine crashes
     if not skills:
         return jsonify({"error": "Please enter at least one skill to get recommendations."}), 400
@@ -156,10 +163,10 @@ def recommend():
         # Return only the first error to keep the UI message clean
         return jsonify({"error": errors[0]}), 400
 
-    if interest_has_no_projects(interest):
+    if interest and all(interest_has_no_projects(i) for i in interest):
         return jsonify({
             "projects": [],
-            "message": "No projects are currently available for this interest area. Please check back later."
+            "message": "No projects are currently available for your selected interest areas. Please check back later."
         }), 200
 
     recommendations_data = get_recommendations(

src/static/script.js

@@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ async function updatePortfolioAnalysis() {
       showFieldError("level-error", "Please select your experience level.");
       valid = false;
     }
-    if (!document.getElementById("interest").value) {
+    if (document.getElementById("interest").selectedOptions.length === 0 || document.getElementById("interest").selectedOptions[0].value === "") {
       showFieldError("interest-error", "Please select an area of interest.");
       valid = false;
     }
@@ -981,7 +981,7 @@ async function updatePortfolioAnalysis() {
           };
         })),
         level: document.getElementById("level").value,
-        interest: document.getElementById("interest").value,
+        interest: Array.from(document.getElementById("interest").selectedOptions).map(opt => opt.value),
         time: document.getElementById("time").value,
         tech_stack: techStackSelect ? techStackSelect.value : "all"
       })

src/templates/index.html

@@ -1036,7 +1036,7 @@ <h2 class="section-title">Find The Project</h2>
                   </button>
                 </label>
                 <div class="select-wrap">
-                  <select id="interest" name="interest">
+                  <select id="interest" name="interest" multiple>
                     <option value="" disabled selected>Select interest</option>
                     {% for interest in available_interests %}
                     <option value="{{ interest }}">{{ interest }}</option>

src/utils/recommender.py

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def clear_caches():
     _skill_graph_loaded = False
 
 VALID_LEVELS = {"beginner", "intermediate", "advanced"}
-VALID_INTERESTS = {"web", "data", "education", "automation", "games", "cybersecurity", "devops", "backend", "tools", "productivity", "business logic", "mobile", "machine learning/ai"}
+VALID_INTERESTS = {"web", "data", "education", "automation", "games", "cybersecurity", "devops", "backend", "tools", "productivity", "business logic", "mobile", "machine learning/ai", "artificial intelligence", "cloud computing"}
 VALID_TIME_AVAILABILITY = {"low", "medium", "high"}
 SCORING_WEIGHTS = {
     "skill": 3,
@@ -155,7 +155,11 @@ def _project_text(project):
     return " ".join(parts)
 
 def _user_text(user_skills, level, interest, time_availability):
-    return f"I am a {level} developer interested in {interest}. I have {time_availability} time. My skills are: {', '.join(user_skills)}."
+    if isinstance(interest, list):
+        interest_str = ", ".join(interest)
+    else:
+        interest_str = interest
+    return f"I am a {level} developer interested in {interest_str}. I have {time_availability} time. My skills are: {', '.join(user_skills)}."
 
 @functools.lru_cache(maxsize=128)
 def _get_user_embedding(user_text):
@@ -305,6 +309,8 @@ def __rtruediv__(self, other):
         return other / self.score
 
 def score_single_project(project, user_skills, level, interest, time_availability, graph=None, skill_proficiencies=None):
+    if isinstance(interest, str):
+        interest = [interest]
     TIME_RANKS = ["low", "medium", "high"]
 
     user_time    = time_availability.strip().lower()
@@ -354,8 +360,15 @@ def score_single_project(project, user_skills, level, interest, time_availabilit
 
     interest_match = False
     p_interest = project.get("interest", "").lower()
-    u_interest = interest.lower()
-    if p_interest == u_interest or (u_interest and u_interest in p_interest) or (p_interest and p_interest in u_interest):
+    # Check if ANY of the user's multiple interests match the project interest
+    matched_interest = False
+    for u_interest in interest:
+        u_interest = u_interest.lower()
+        if p_interest == u_interest or (u_interest and u_interest in p_interest) or (p_interest and p_interest in u_interest):
+            matched_interest = True
+            break
+
+    if matched_interest:
         score += weight_interest
         interest_match = True
 
@@ -570,7 +583,6 @@ def project_matches_tech(project, tech_stack):
 
     return False
 
-
 def get_recommendations(
     skills_string,
     level,
@@ -579,6 +591,8 @@ def get_recommendations(
     tech_stack="all",
     max_results=None,
 ):
+    if isinstance(interest, str):
+        interest = [interest]
     skill_entries = parse_skill_entries(skills_string)
 
     user_skills = [entry["skill"] for entry in skill_entries]
@@ -759,12 +773,14 @@ def validate_recommendation_inputs(skills, level, interest, time_availability):
     elif level.strip().lower() not in VALID_LEVELS:
         errors.append("Invalid experience level. Choose Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced.")
 
-    if (
-        not interest
-        or not isinstance(interest, str)
-        or interest.strip().lower() not in VALID_INTERESTS
-    ):
-        errors.append("Please select a valid area of interest.")
+    if isinstance(interest, str):
+        interest = [interest]
+    if not interest or not isinstance(interest, list) or len([i for i in interest if str(i).strip()]) == 0:
+        errors.append("Please select an area of interest.")
+    else:
+        invalid_interests = [i for i in interest if str(i).strip().lower() not in VALID_INTERESTS]
+        if invalid_interests:
+            errors.append("Please select a valid area of interest.")
 
     if not time_availability or not time_availability.strip():
         errors.append("Please select your time availability.")

tests/test_basic.py

@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def test_score_no_project_skills_does_not_crash():
     score_result = score_single_project(project, ["python"], "Beginner", "Data", "Low")
     # Skill score is 0, but other criteria still score
     score = score_result[0] if isinstance(score_result, tuple) else score_result
-    assert score == pytest.approx(SCORING_WEIGHTS["level"] + SCORING_WEIGHTS["interest"] + SCORING_WEIGHTS["time"])  # 2+2+1 = 5
+    assert score == pytest.approx(SCORING_WEIGHTS["level"] + SCORING_WEIGHTS["interest"] + SCORING_WEIGHTS["time"])
 
 
 def test_score_three_skills_partial_coverage():
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ def test_validate_missing_fields():
 
 def get_client():
     app.config["TESTING"] = True
+    app.config["WTF_CSRF_ENABLED"] = False
     return app.test_client()
 
 
@@ -264,19 +265,67 @@ def test_security_headers_present():
         == "geolocation=(), microphone=(), camera=()"
     )
 
-def test_recommend_api():
+def test_recommend_api_single_interest():
     client = get_client()
     response = client.post("/api/recommend", json={
         "skills": "Python",
         "level": "Beginner",
-        "interest": "Data",
+        "interest": ["Data"],
         "time": "Low"
     })
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    data = response.get_json()
+    assert "projects" in data
 
+def test_recommend_api_multiple_interests_overlapping():
+    client = get_client()
+    response = client.post("/api/recommend", json={
+        "skills": "Python",
+        "level": "Beginner",
+        "interest": ["Data", "Web"],
+        "time": "Low"
+    })
     assert response.status_code == 200
+    data = response.get_json()
+    assert "projects" in data
 
+def test_recommend_api_multiple_interests_one_empty():
+    client = get_client()
+    response = client.post("/api/recommend", json={
+        "skills": "Python",
+        "level": "Beginner",
+        "interest": ["Data", "artificial intelligence"],
+        "time": "Low"
+    })
+    assert response.status_code == 200
     data = response.get_json()
     assert "projects" in data
+    assert len(data["projects"]) > 0
+
+def test_recommend_api_multiple_interests_all_empty():
+    client = get_client()
+    response = client.post("/api/recommend", json={
+        "skills": "Python",
+        "level": "Beginner",
+        "interest": ["artificial intelligence", "cloud computing"],
+        "time": "Low"
+    })
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    data = response.get_json()
+    assert len(data["projects"]) == 0
+    assert "No projects are currently available" in data["message"]
+
+def test_recommend_api_empty_selection():
+    client = get_client()
+    response = client.post("/api/recommend", json={
+        "skills": "Python",
+        "level": "Beginner",
+        "interest": [],
+        "time": "Low"
+    })
+    assert response.status_code == 400
+    data = response.get_json()
+    assert "Please select an area of interest" in data["error"]
 
 
 def test_project_not_found():