FinHandle

FinHandle is a comprehensive financial management application designed to help users track their income, expenses, and investments effectively. It provides a user-friendly interface to manage personal finances, set budgets, and gain insights into spending habits.

Features

• Income Tracking: Easily record and categorize all sources of income.
• Expense Management: Log daily expenses, categorize them, and visualize spending patterns.
• Investment Portfolio: Monitor your investments and track their performance.
• Budgeting Tools: Set financial goals and create budgets to stay on track.
• Financial Reports: Generate detailed reports to understand your financial health.
• User Authentication: Secure user login and registration.

Technologies Used

Backend

• Node.js: JavaScript runtime environment.
• Express.js: Web application framework for Node.js.
• MongoDB: NoSQL database for data storage.
• Mongoose: ODM for MongoDB and Node.js.
• JWT (JSON Web Tokens): For authentication and authorization.
• Bcrypt: For password hashing.

Frontend

• React: JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
• Vite: Next-generation frontend tooling.
• Tailwind CSS: A utility-first CSS framework for rapid UI development.
• React Router: For declarative routing.
• Axios: For making HTTP requests.

Getting Started

Follow these instructions to get a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js: Download & Install Node.js
• npm (Node Package Manager) or Yarn: Comes with Node.js, or install Yarn globally: npm install -g yarn
• MongoDB: Download & Install MongoDB

Cloning the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/FinHandle.git
cd FinHandle

Backend Setup

1. Navigate to the backend directory:

   cd backend

2. Install backend dependencies:

   npm install
   # or yarn install

3. Create a .env file in the backend directory and add your environment variables. A config folder exists within the backend, so this is where the .env would likely be used.

   PORT=5000
   MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
   JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret

   Replace your_mongodb_connection_string with your MongoDB URI (e.g., mongodb://localhost:27017/finhandle for local or a MongoDB Atlas URI).
   Replace your_jwt_secret with a strong, random string.

4. Run the backend server:

   npm start
   # or yarn start

   The backend server will run on http://localhost:5000 (or your specified PORT).

Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to the frontend directory:

   cd ../frontend

2. Install frontend dependencies:

   npm install
   # or yarn install

3. Run the frontend development server:

   npm run dev
   # or yarn dev

   The frontend application will be available at http://localhost:5173 (or the default Vite port).

Usage

Once both the backend and frontend servers are running, open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:5173. You can then register a new user or log in with existing credentials to start managing your finances.