StudyMate

Academic management and student productivity for schools and colleges — a dependency-free PHP 8 application (no Composer packages required).

Screenshots

Student workspace

Dashboard	Focus timer	Assignments

Teacher workspace

Dashboard	Attendance	Resources

Administration

Users	Audit log

Notifications & confirmation

Toast notifications	Confirmation dialog

Mobile

Dashboard	Navigation drawer

Password reset

Request a link	Choose a new password

Requirements

• PHP 8.0+ with PDO MySQL
• MySQL / MariaDB 10.4+
• Apache with mod_rewrite (or any web server that can route to index.php)
• Composer — only for PHPMailer, used to send password reset emails

Getting started

git clone https://github.com/webhossen/studymate.git
cd studymate
composer install          # PHPMailer, for password reset emails
cp .env.example .env     # then edit the database details
php database/migrate.php # create the tables
php database/setup.php    # optional demo data

Open http://localhost/studymate/ — or the full deployment guide for setting up a domain, a hosted server, or Docker.

The two ways to host it

The application detects the layout from APP_URL, so no configuration change is needed beyond setting it correctly:

Setup	APP_URL	Assets are served from
Document root = project folder, app in a sub-folder	https://example.com/studymate	/studymate/public/assets/…
Document root = public/ (recommended)	https://studymate.example.com	/assets/…

Pointing the document root at public/ keeps .env, app/ and storage/ outside the web, which is the safer arrangement for anything internet-facing.

Email

Password reset links are sent with PHPMailer. Configure the transport in .env:

# smtp | mail | log
MAIL_TRANSPORT=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=your.address@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your-app-password
# tls | ssl | none
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=no-reply@yourdomain.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME=StudyMate

• smtp — the normal choice for a hosted server
• mail — hand the message to the local MTA via PHP's mail()
• log — write the message to storage/logs/mail.log and send nothing (handy while developing)

For Gmail, use an App Password rather than your account password.

While APP_DEBUG=true the reset link is also shown on screen, so the flow can be completed even before a mail server is configured.

Demo accounts

After running database/setup.php:

Role	Email	Password
Admin	admin@studymate.local	DemoPass123!
Teacher	teacher@studymate.local	DemoPass123!
Student	student@studymate.local	DemoPass123!

Layout

app/
  Core/           Front controller, router, view, database, auth, audit, mailer, upload
  Controllers/    Admin, Teacher, Student and Api controllers
  Helpers/        Global helper functions (e, url, asset, base_path, ...)
  Middleware/     Auth, guest and web (CSRF) middleware
config/           Application and database configuration
database/         Migrations and the demo seeder
public/           Document root, static assets
resources/views/   Templates, layouts and partials
routes/           web.php and api.php route tables
storage/          Uploads and logs (not committed)
tools/            Composer binary (not committed)
docs/screenshots/ README screenshots

See DEPLOYMENT.md for the complete guide: local setup, database creation, shared hosting, VPS/Nginx, moving a database, a production checklist and troubleshooting.

Features

• Students — tasks, study planner, notes, focus timer with pomodoro sessions, study sessions, assignments and submissions, attendance, exams, grades, calendar and profile.
• Teachers — class rosters, attendance marking, assignments, submissions and grading, exams, live study-session monitoring, check-ins, resources and announcements.
• Admins — users and roles, departments, academic years, classes, subjects, enrolments, class-subject assignment, announcements, an audit log and settings.

Design system

The UI is built on a small design system in public/assets/css/app.css:

• token layer (colour, surface, type, shape, motion) mapped onto Bootstrap's CSS variables
• dark and light themes, remembered in localStorage
• app shell with a grouped sidebar, off-canvas mobile drawer and a glass top bar
• toast notifications and confirmation dialogs for every action
• an animated logout button (public/assets/css/logout-button.css)

test_desktop.php is a self-contained regression check for the design system and can be run from the CLI.

Screenshots live in docs/screenshots/.

Security

• CSRF tokens on every state-changing form
• output escaping through the e() helper
• role-based route guards and per-file authorisation for downloads
• password reset tokens are single-use, expire after an hour, and only a SHA-256 hash of the token is stored
• uploads validated by extension and sniffed MIME type, stored outside the document root and streamed through an authorised endpoint
• all administrative and teaching writes recorded in the audit log