Lost Guard is a premium, campus-aware full-stack platform designed to reconnect students and staff with their lost belongings through intelligent matching, secure blind-question verification, and real-time community trust.

Automatically suggests "Found" items to users based on specific SLIIT Malabe Blocks (e.g., NAB, Computing, Engineering). The matching algorithm uses Category + Location Block precision to increase recovery rates.

Secure your found items with a challenge. Reporters can set a security question (e.g., "What sticker is on the back?"). Claimants must provide the correct answer before they can proceed with a formal claim.

Gamifying honesty! Users earn Trust Points for successful recoveries. The top 10 "Guardians" are showcased on a premium leaderboard to encourage community participation.

Campus locations, item categories, and location blocks are fully managed via the Admin Dashboard. This allows the platform to adapt to new buildings or categories without code changes.

Items can be marked as "Secured at Hub" (e.g., Security Gate 1, Student Affairs). A shield badge on the item ensures the student that their item is safe and ready for pickup.

Prevents platform clutter. Once an item is successfully marked as recovered, it enters a 1-hour grace timeline before being automatically swept into a secure, read-only "Historical Archives" Vault accessible via the user's profile.

A standardized, responsive header and menu system that persists across all app states. Features include context-aware action buttons (Dynamic Share, Moderation Add) and high-quality blur-glassmorphism.

Deeply optimized startup sequence using staggered data-loading and InteractionManager orchestration. The interface remains 100% interactive even while the system processes heavy background data.

An intelligent rendering engine that prioritizes visual fidelity on iOS while falling back to high-performance semi-transparent layers for list items on Android, keeping the app smooth at 60fps across all devices.

Complete CRUD control over user networks. Administrators can intercept, edit, or delete platform users while actively pulling up and wiping out any specific listing attached to a targeted account natively from the dashboard.

graph TD
    A[Lost Item Reported] --> B{Matching Engine}
    B -- Match Found --> C[Send Email Alert]
    D[Found Item Reported] --> B
    D --> E[Set Security Question]
    F[User Claims Item] --> G{Answer Correct?}
    G -- No --> H[Claim Rejected]
    G -- Yes --> I[Admin Review Proof]
    I --> J[Item Recovered]
    J --> K[+10 Trust Points]

1. Finder: Sets a "Blind Question" during the found report.
2. Claimant: Must provide the correct string answer to view the owner's contact info.
3. Admin: Validates the secondary physical proof (image) before final closure.

The system utilizes a structured NoSQL schema for high flexibility and performance:

• users: Authentication, profile data, and the trustScore gamification field.
• items: Core reports containing locationBlock, isAtHub, and verificationQuestion fields.
• claims: Linking users to items with proof and approval statuses.
• categories: Dynamic list of item types for filtering.
• locations: Campus-specific building and block mapping.
• statusLogs: Persistent audit trail for every status change (Reported -> Hub -> Recovered).
• notifications: Real-time in-app alerts for matches.

• Dynamic Categories: Fetching real-time categories/locations from DB.
• Smart Discovery: "Suggested for You" carousel based on active lost items.
• Cloudinary Integration: Secure, high-performance image hosting.

• Blind Challenge: Implementation of the security question workflow.
• Verification Logic: Server-side answer validation for claim submissions.
• Trust Scores: Backend logic for calculating and awarding trust points.

• Watchlist Notifications: Automated email alerts for category/block matches.
• Real-time Chat: Glassmorphism chat UI for finder-claimant coordination.
• Mail Service: Nodemailer integration with premium university-branded templates.

• Verified Hubs: Hub tracking system for physical item security.
• Status Lifecycle: Visual audit trail from "Reported" to "Secured at Hub" to "Recovered".
• Leaderboard Engine: Aggregation logic for community rankings.

The application is deployed across a high-performance cloud infrastructure, fully supporting cross-platform access:

• Frontend (Mobile): Expo Cloud (EAS). OTA (Over-The-Air) deployment and seamless updates configured via GitHub Actions.
• Frontend (Web App): DigitalOcean App Platform. The project is explicitly configured with react-native-web to compile into a highly optimized, responsive Single Page Application (SPA). Web-specific APIs, such as standard localStorage security fallbacks and native Blob file uploads, ensure a 100% bug-free desktop experience.
• Backend API: Heroku PaaS. Running the stateless Node.js Express server.
• Database: MongoDB Atlas. Managed cloud database with deep indexing for search.
• Storage: Cloudinary. Optimized image transformations and secure file hosting.

1. cd backend && pnpm install
2. Configure .env with Mongo, JWT, Cloudinary, and SMTP keys.
3. pnpm start

1. cd frontend && pnpm install
2. Configure .env with EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL pointing to Heroku.
3. For local development: pnpm start (press w to open the Web App in your browser).
4. For Production Web Build: npx expo export (Requires DigitalOcean or static hosting of the dist/ directory).

• users: Includes trustScore.
• items: Includes isAtHub, hubName, verificationQuestion.
• categories: Dynamic metadata for item groups.
• locations: Campus location mapping with block grouping.
• statusLogs: Audit trail for recovery tracking.

2nd Year WMT Module Assigment Submission. Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal.

Developed with ❤️ for the University Community.