Influence

The Trustpilot for Influencers — Honest Reviews, Real Discovery

---

Overview

Influence is a community-driven platform for discovering and reviewing digital influencers. Browse influencers by category, read honest reviews from real people, and submit new influencers for inclusion — all backed by Supabase Row-Level Security and an AI-assisted admin pipeline.

Built with Next.js 16 (App Router), TypeScript, shadcn/ui, and Tailwind CSS v4, with Supabase handling Auth, PostgreSQL, and RLS. AI-powered influencer generation uses DeepSeek + Tavily web search to produce timeless, content-focused profiles.

No volatile stats. AI-generated bios exclude follower counts and ages — only content style and niche.

---

Features

• Influencer Discovery — Browse, search, and filter influencers by category, rating, or recency.
• Review System — Authenticated users write 1–5 star reviews with titles and body text.
• AI-Assisted Generation — Admins submit an influencer name; Tavily searches the web and DeepSeek generates a full profile (bio, category, social links, image).
• Admin Pipeline — Influencers flow through pending → generating → pending_review → approved | rejected. Only approved influencers appear publicly.
• Avatar Fallbacks — Profile images use initials-based gradient avatars when URLs are missing or broken.
• Timeless Bios — AI-generated descriptions exclude volatile stats (age, follower counts) and focus on content style and niche.
• Auth — Email/password login via Supabase Auth with middleware-protected routes (/dashboard, /admin).

---

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Framework	Next.js 16 (App Router, Server Components, API Routes)
Language	TypeScript 5
UI	shadcn/ui (base-nova style, @base-ui/react primitives) + Tailwind CSS v4
Backend	Supabase (Auth, PostgreSQL, RLS)
AI	DeepSeek (via OpenAI-compatible API) + Tavily web search
Validation	Zod v4
Testing	Vitest
Deployment	Vercel

---

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• A Supabase project (free tier works)
• DeepSeek API key (or any OpenAI-compatible LLM endpoint)
• Tavily API key (for web search during influencer generation)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/AzuriteAzul/influence.git
   cd influence

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Configure environment variables

   cp .env.local.example .env.local

   Fill in the required values:

   NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
   NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-anon-key
   SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=your-service-role-key
   TAVILY_API_KEY=your-tavily-key
   OPENAI_API_KEY=your-deepseek-key

   Note: OPENAI_API_KEY is actually a DeepSeek API key. It's used as Authorization: Bearer ${OPENAI_API_KEY} against api.deepseek.com. The env var name is a legacy convention.

4. Start the development server

   npm run dev

   The app will be available at http://localhost:3000.

---

Available Scripts

Script	Description
npm run dev	Start the Next.js development server
npm run build	Production build (also type-checks)
npm run lint	ESLint with next/core-web-vitals + next/typescript
npm test	Vitest single run
npm run test:watch	Vitest watch mode
npm run test:coverage	Vitest with coverage

---

Project Structure

influence/
├── src/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── api/
│   │   │   ├── admin/              # Admin-only endpoints (generate, approve, reject)
│   │   │   ├── influencers/        # Public influencer CRUD + search
│   │   │   ├── reviews/            # Public review endpoints
│   │   │   └── categories/         # Category listing
│   │   ├── admin/                  # Admin dashboard pages
│   │   ├── dashboard/              # User dashboard pages
│   │   ├── influencers/            # Public influencer pages
│   │   ├── login/                  # Auth pages
│   │   ├── submit/                 # Influencer submission page
│   │   ├── layout.tsx              # Root layout (Navbar + Footer)
│   │   └── page.tsx                # Homepage
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── layout/                 # Navbar, Footer, SearchBar
│   │   ├── reviews/                # ReviewList, ReviewForm
│   │   └── ui/                     # shadcn/ui components (Avatar, Badge, Button, etc.)
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── constants.ts           # SITE_NAME, SITE_DESCRIPTION, PAGE_SIZE, REVIEW_PAGE_SIZE
│   │   ├── utils.ts                # cn(), generateSlug(), getInitials(), formatDate()
│   │   ├── validations.ts          # Zod schemas for API input
│   │   └── supabase/
│   │       ├── client.ts           # Browser client (anon key)
│   │       ├── server.ts           # Server client (anon key, reads cookies)
│   │       ├── admin.ts            # Admin client (service role, bypasses RLS)
│   │       └── middleware.ts       # Session refresh + route protection
│   ├── types/
│   │   └── index.ts                # Influencer, Review, Profile, PaginatedResponse<T>
│   └── middleware.ts               # Next.js middleware (auth redirect)
├── .env.local.example              # Environment variable template
├── components.json                 # shadcn/ui config (base-nova style)
├── next.config.ts                  # Next.js config
├── AGENTS.md                       # AI agent instructions
└── package.json

---

Key Conventions

• SITE_NAME and SITE_DESCRIPTION in src/lib/constants.ts are the single source of truth for the brand. Always import them — never hardcode the app name.
• Logo icon is Zap from lucide-react (not Star).
• Three Supabase clients — use the right one:
  • createClient() from @/lib/supabase/client — Client Components only (anon key)
  • await createClient() from @/lib/supabase/server — Server Components & API routes (anon key, reads cookies)
  • createAdminClient() from @/lib/supabase/admin — API routes that bypass RLS (service role key, synchronous)
• Influencer status flow: pending → generating → pending_review → approved | rejected. Only approved influencers appear on public listings.
• Avatar fallback: Use Avatar + AvatarFallback with getInitials() from @/lib/utils. Never use raw <img> tags for profile images — AvatarFallback renders automatically on broken URLs.
• Review author display: Priority is display_name → username → "Anonymous". Email is never included in profile data.
• Tailwind v4: No tailwind.config.ts. Configuration lives in src/app/globals.css via @theme inline. Dark mode uses .dark class.
• shadcn/ui uses @base-ui/react (not Radix). Components like Avatar import from @base-ui/react/avatar.
• Zod v4 schemas in src/lib/validations.ts for API input validation. No inferred types are exported — infer inline if needed.
• Pagination: PAGE_SIZE (12) and REVIEW_PAGE_SIZE (10) from src/lib/constants.ts. API responses use PaginatedResponse<T>.

---

Deployment

Influence is deployed on Vercel.

1. Push your code to GitHub.
2. Import the repository in Vercel.
3. Add all environment variables from .env.local.example to the Vercel project settings.
4. Ensure your Supabase project's Auth Settings → URL Configuration includes your Vercel production domain in the redirect URLs.

---

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/your-feature).
3. Make your changes and ensure npm run lint and npm test pass.
4. Open a pull request with a clear description of what changed and why.

If you are adding new API routes, remember to:

• Add a Zod schema in src/lib/validations.ts for input validation.
• Use the correct Supabase client (client, server, or admin) based on the route's auth requirements.
• Update src/types/index.ts if you introduce new data shapes.

---

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

---

_{Built for honest influencer discovery.}