Freelancer-Client Matching System — Backend

A Spring Boot REST API backend for the Freelancer-Client Matching Platform. Handles authentication, skill-based matching, proposals, messaging, resume parsing, and an AI chatbot.

🔗 Live API: freelancer-client-matchingsystem-backend on Render 🔗 Frontend: freelancer-client-matchingsystem-fr.vercel.app

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Features

Authentication

• JWT-based login and registration
• Role-based access control (FREELANCER / CLIENT / ADMIN)
• BCrypt password encryption

Skill Matching Algorithm

• Freelancer side: projects ranked by % skill overlap with freelancer's skills
• Client side: freelancers ranked by % skill overlap per project
• Returns matched skills highlighted for each result

Resume Parsing

• Upload PDF resume
• Automatically extracts skills using Apache PDFBox text extraction
• Matches extracted text against a dictionary of 80+ tech skills
• Updates freelancer profile with extracted skills

AI Chatbot

• Powered by HuggingFace Mistral-7B model
• Answers questions about the platform
• Rule-based fallback responses if AI is unavailable

Proposals

• Freelancers submit proposals with bid amount and description
• Clients accept or reject proposals
• Status tracking (PENDING / ACCEPTED / REJECTED)

Messaging

• Real-time inbox between clients and freelancers
• Conversation history per user pair

Reviews

• Clients rate freelancers after project completion (1-5 stars)
• Average rating displayed on freelancer profile

Admin

• Manage users: block / unblock / delete
• Manage projects: approve / reject
• Platform-wide statistics and reports

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Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
Spring Boot 3.2.5	Backend framework
Spring Security	Authentication & authorization
JWT (jjwt)	Token-based auth
Spring Data JPA	Database ORM
PostgreSQL	Production database
HikariCP	Connection pooling
Apache PDFBox	PDF text extraction
WebFlux WebClient	HuggingFace API calls
Docker	Containerization

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API Endpoints

Auth

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	Register new user
POST	/api/auth/login	Login and get JWT token

Projects

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/projects	Get all projects
GET	/api/projects/client/{id}	Get projects by client
POST	/api/projects	Post new project

Matching

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/match/freelancer/{id}	Get matched projects for freelancer
GET	/api/match/project/{id}	Get matched freelancers for project

Proposals

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/proposals	Submit proposal
GET	/api/proposals/freelancer/{id}	Get freelancer's proposals
GET	/api/proposals/project/{id}	Get proposals for a project
PUT	/api/proposals/{id}/accept	Accept proposal
PUT	/api/proposals/{id}/reject	Reject proposal

Messages

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/messages	Send message
GET	/api/messages/inbox/{id}	Get inbox
GET	/api/messages/conversation	Get conversation between two users

Reviews

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/reviews	Submit review
GET	/api/reviews/freelancer/{id}	Get reviews for freelancer

Resume

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/resume/upload	Upload PDF and extract skills

Chatbot

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/chatbot/ask	Send message to AI chatbot

Admin

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/admin/freelancers	Get all freelancers
GET	/api/admin/clients	Get all clients
GET	/api/admin/projects	Get all projects
GET	/api/admin/reports	Get platform stats
PUT	/api/admin/users/{id}/block	Block user
PUT	/api/admin/users/{id}/approve	Unblock user
DELETE	/api/admin/users/{id}	Delete user

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Getting Started Locally

Prerequisites

• Java 21
• Maven
• MySQL running locally

Setup

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/Visshwasmai24/freelancer_client_matchingsystem_backend.git
cd freelancer_client_matchingsystem_backend

# Create the database in MySQL
# Run this in MySQL Workbench or terminal:
# CREATE DATABASE skillmatch;

# Update application.properties for local MySQL:
# spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/skillmatch?useSSL=false&allowPublicKeyRetrieval=true&serverTimezone=UTC
# spring.datasource.username=root
# spring.datasource.password=your_password
# spring.datasource.driver-class-name=com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
# spring.jpa.database-platform=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect

# Run the application
mvn spring-boot:run

API will be available at http://localhost:8080

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Environment Variables (Render Deployment)

Variable	Description
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL JDBC URL
DB_USER	Database username
DB_PASS	Database password
HF_API_KEY	HuggingFace API token for chatbot
PORT	Server port (set automatically by Render)

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Deployment

Deployed on Render using Docker. Auto-deploys on every push to main.

Make sure to set all environment variables in Render's dashboard before deploying.

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Related

• Frontend Repository