Cosmic Diary

A space-themed social platform where users write blog entries, build custom planets, follow other explorers, and chat in a global community space.

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Features

• User authentication with bcrypt password hashing
• Captain's Log blog system with image uploads and infinite scroll
• Interactive planet builder with live canvas rendering
• Galaxy gallery with likes and lazy-loaded infinite scroll
• Global chat with replies, mentions, custom emojis, and live updates
• Stories system with 24-hour expiry
• Follow system with private account support and requests
• Notifications with unread badge and favicon indicator
• User profiles with avatars, bios, and activity stats
• Online status and last seen tracking
• Responsive mobile-first design
• PNG and GIF export for planets

Tech Stack

• PHP 8.2
• MySQL / MariaDB
• Vanilla JavaScript
• HTML5 Canvas API
• CSS3 with custom properties
• Font Awesome 6
• gif.js for GIF encoding

Requirements

• XAMPP (or any LAMP/WAMP stack)
• PHP 8.0 or higher
• MySQL 5.7 or higher
• Node.js and npm (for local libraries)

Installation

1. Clone the repository into your web server root:

git clone <repository-url> CosmicDiary

2. Navigate to the project directory:

cd CosmicDiary

3. Install Node dependencies:

npm install

4. Create the database and import the schema:

mysql -u root -p cosmic_diary < database.sql

Tip

The database is exported as schema only. Register a new account to begin.

5. Configure database credentials in includes/config.php:

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_USER', 'root');
define('DB_PASS', '');
define('DB_NAME', 'cosmic_diary');
define('BASE_URL', 'http://localhost/CosmicDiary/');

6. Ensure the following directories exist and are writable:

uploads/
uploads/avatars/
uploads/stories/

7. Start your Apache and MySQL servers and visit:

http://localhost/CosmicDiary

Project Structure

CosmicDiary/
├── api/              Backend endpoints (JSON responses)
│   ├── auth/         Authentication handlers
│   ├── blog/         Blog CRUD operations
│   ├── chat/         Chat messaging and updates
│   ├── cron/         Activity simulation and maintenance
│   ├── planet/       Planet CRUD and likes
│   ├── stories/      Story creation and viewing
│   └── user/         User profiles, follows, notifications
├── assets/
│   ├── css/          Stylesheets
│   ├── fonts/        Local font files
│   ├── images/       Logos, icons, emojis
│   └── js/           Client-side scripts
├── includes/         Shared PHP (config, header, footer, functions)
├── pages/            User-facing pages
├── uploads/          User-generated content (excluded from git)
├── database.sql      Full database schema
├── package.json      Node dependencies
└── README.md

Security Notes

• Passwords are hashed using bcrypt via password_hash()
• All database queries use prepared statements
• Session-based authentication with cookie path scoping
• Input sanitization on all user-submitted data
• File uploads restricted to image types

License

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