Journl

Journl is a web-first journaling app that turns daily writing into structured reflection. It’s built around a simple principle: journaling is most useful when it’s easy to revisit, easy to continue, and able to surface patterns over time. The primary product lives in apps/web, and most contributors will work there.

Product Overview

Journl helps people capture daily entries and use guidance to deepen their reflection. The core experience is centered on:

• Date-based entries so returning to past writing is predictable.
• Guided prompts and contextual assistance so users aren’t left staring at a blank page.
• An embedded assistant surface that stays alongside the editor rather than pulling users into a separate workflow.

Design Principles

• The editor is the product: navigation, account flows, and assistance stay out of the way of writing.
• Guidance over automation: AI is used to prompt and clarify, not to replace the writer.
• Predictable organization: date-first navigation keeps the mental model simple.
• UI clarity: assistant and editor coexist without crowding each other.

Where to Start

• apps/web/src/app/(marketing): public-facing overview and positioning.
• apps/web/src/app/(app): authenticated journaling experience.
• apps/web/src/app/(app)/journal: date-based entry views and editor.
• apps/web/src/app/(app)/@chatDrawer and apps/web/src/app/(app)/@chatSidebar: assistant surfaces embedded in the journaling UI.

Repository Layout (High Level)

This is a pnpm/Turbo monorepo:

• apps/web: Next.js UI runtime and marketing pages.
• packages/*: shared TypeScript packages for API, auth, and data access.
• apps/* (others): locasl dev utilities and integrations.

Setup & Run

1. Install toolchain dependencies:

   • Node.js: use a version that satisfies the engines field in package.json.
   • pnpm: use the repo’s configured version (packageManager in package.json).

2. Install workspace dependencies from the repo root:

   pnpm install

3. Configure environment variables:

   • Create a .env at the repo root.
   • Populate variables needed for database, auth, and Stripe integrations. (Turbo scripts reference dotenv -e ../../.env.)

4. Run the app:

   • pnpm dev starts all tasks via Turbo.
   • pnpm dev:next runs only the Next.js app (apps/web).

5. (Optional) Database tooling:

   • pnpm db:push applies Drizzle migrations.
   • pnpm db:studio opens Drizzle Studio.

Common Scripts

• pnpm build: build all apps/packages.
• pnpm check: run Biome checks with write/unsafe.
• pnpm typecheck: run TypeScript type checks.

See AGENTS.md for contributor standards and the full command list.