Alex Herlan Portfolio

A custom React and FastAPI portfolio built from Alex Herlan's résumé. The interface uses hand-written CSS—no Tailwind or component library. Profile, career, and skill content comes from JSON; journal articles use Supabase through FastAPI with a local JSON fallback.

Project structure

backend/
  data/                  Local content and article fallback
  supabase/schema.sql     Supabase articles table and security setup
  seed_supabase.py        One-time migration for the ten starter articles
  main.py                FastAPI routes, SMTP delivery, and production serving
  requirements.txt
frontend/
  public/                Alex's locally stored profile image
  src/                   React pages, components, and custom CSS
Alexander Herlan Resume 2024.pdf
Alexander Herlan Resume 2024.md

Run locally

Create and install the Python environment from the repository root:

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -r backend\requirements.txt

Start FastAPI:

uvicorn backend.main:app --reload --reload-dir backend --port 8000 --env-file backend\.env

In a second terminal, start React:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173. Vite proxies /api requests to FastAPI on port 8000.

The interface loads Roboto Flex from Google Fonts for its compact UI copy, while editorial headings keep the résumé-inspired serif treatment.

Contact-form delivery

The form uses POST /api/contact and sends email through SMTP. Copy backend/.env.example to backend/.env, fill in the SMTP values, and start the API with the environment file:

uvicorn backend.main:app --reload --reload-dir backend --port 8000 --env-file backend\.env

If SMTP is unavailable, the API returns a clear delivery error and the page keeps Alex's direct email, LinkedIn, and GitHub links visible.

Journal publisher

Click the lock icon beside the header navigation and enter the journal admin password. Signing in enables New article, Edit, and Delete controls throughout the journal. The account icon opens the admin menu and sign-out control. You can also open http://localhost:5173/blog/manage directly; the page prompts you to sign in before writing.

The writing room uses Tiptap for headings, bold and italic text, lists, undo/redo, and inline font sizes. Creating, updating, and deleting articles uses Supabase when configured, or backend/data/posts.json in local fallback mode. Edit controls open /blog/{slug}/edit with the existing sections, formatting, topics, banner, and attachments. Editing a title preserves the published URL. Deleting an article requires confirmation and removes it from the journal; stored uploads remain available at their existing URLs.

Set unique production values in backend/.env:

JOURNAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD=replace-with-a-strong-password
JOURNAL_TOKEN_SECRET=replace-with-a-long-random-secret

The login endpoint returns a signed admin session that expires after four hours. The password remains server-side and the browser stores only the temporary token. The shared session restores after refresh and expires automatically. Every create, update, delete, and upload endpoint verifies the admin token on the server.

Reading the journal is public and independent of the admin session. Journal lists and article pages retry temporary failures once, refresh after successful sign-in, and offer Try again if the store remains unavailable. Existing content stays visible during failed refreshes. A temporary session-check failure preserves the saved token and can recover when the connection returns. Supabase reads use bounded retries and log the failure type/code without credentials or article content.

Use + Section in the editor to add a section heading and opening paragraph. Section headings receive the same divider and uppercase drop cap as the starter articles, with formatting visible in the editor. Existing H2 headings use this styling automatically.

The media picker supports drag-and-drop or file browsing, a live banner preview with the article title and subtitle, file-size and format checks, and duplicate detection by file name and size. Uploads have individual progress, cancel, and retry controls; a failed file does not stop the remaining queue. Retry or remove pending/failed uploads before publishing. Use the up/down controls to set the order of additional photos and files. Replacing a banner keeps the previous image until the replacement uploads successfully.

The publisher accepts a banner image (JPEG, PNG, WebP, or GIF, up to 8 MB) and up to ten additional photos or files (20 MB each). The banner appears in the journal thumbnail and behind the article title and subtitle with a readability overlay; additional photos and downloadable files appear below the body. Uploads require an admin session. New uploads use Dropbox by default. The Supabase article's banner and each item in attachments contain storage: "dropbox" and dropbox_file_id: "id:...", alongside their names, sizes, media types, and stable website URLs.

The article_media table stores the upload-ID-to-Dropbox-ID mapping, including uploads not yet attached to a published article. The public /api/uploads/{upload_id} route retrieves bytes from Dropbox by ID, so article rows never contain expiring temporary links or access tokens. Original local uploads continue to work until migrated. Removing an attachment or deleting an article does not delete its stored file.

For an existing Supabase project, run bash scripts/setup_supabase.sh --schema-only to add the nullable banner and default-empty attachments columns before running the updated backend. Existing articles remain compatible.

Verify article publishing and uploads with .venv/Scripts/python.exe -m unittest backend.test_articles.

Connect the owner's Dropbox account

This website uses its own server-side Dropbox API app, independently of journal admin sign-in or any chat connector. A personal Dropbox account is sufficient; it must authorize the website's developer app once.

1. In the Dropbox App Console, create a Scoped access app with App folder access. Enable files.content.write and files.content.read on its Permissions tab and click Submit to save. Keep this app's permissions limited to those needed for the website.
2. Set DROPBOX_APP_KEY and DROPBOX_APP_SECRET in backend/.env using the app's Settings tab. Keep these values server-side.
3. Run .venv/Scripts/python.exe -m backend.connect_dropbox. The helper opens the authorization URL in your browser (and prints it as a fallback). Approve access using the owner's personal account, and paste the returned code into the terminal. It uses the app's saved permissions and verifies that both required file scopes were granted before writing the refresh token directly into the ignored backend/.env file without printing it. Setup gives credentials in this file priority over shell variables.
4. Apply the media table with bash scripts/setup_supabase.sh --schema-only, if not already applied, then restart FastAPI with --env-file backend/.env.

If an old authorization link shows No scope requested can be granted for this app, rerun the updated helper and use its newly opened page. It no longer sends an explicit scope parameter. If setup reports missing permissions after approval, compare the App key printed by the helper with the app you edited in App Console; enable the listed permissions on that exact app, save with Submit, and rerun setup. Old links are not changed by editing the helper.

The SDK refreshes access tokens automatically using DROPBOX_REFRESH_TOKEN. See the Dropbox OAuth guide for offline access. DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN is supported for initial testing, but a short-lived token alone will eventually need replacing. New uploads fail clearly if Dropbox is not connected; they do not silently fall back to local storage.

To move existing published media to Dropbox, preview with .venv/Scripts/python.exe -m backend.migrate_media_dropbox, then run it with --apply. It uploads referenced files, updates the article rows, and preserves website image URLs and the original local files. Run the migration while article editing is paused. It can resume after a partial failure without re-uploading successfully recorded files.

For offline development only, set JOURNAL_MEDIA_STORAGE=local. Local files and legacy uploads use JOURNAL_UPLOAD_DIR (default backend/data/uploads). Dropbox uploads with Supabase configured do not require local file storage. If running without Supabase, upload metadata remains in that local directory and needs persistent storage.

Supabase article storage

The runtime backend needs two values from Supabase Dashboard → Settings → API Keys:

SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project-ref.supabase.co
SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY=sb_secret_replace_me
SUPABASE_ARTICLES_TABLE=articles

Use the new sb_secret_... key when available. It bypasses Row Level Security and must stay only in backend/.env; never add it to React or commit it. The older service_role key is accepted as a compatibility fallback through SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY.

To connect a project without creating anything manually in the Supabase console:

1. Add the URL, secret key, project ref, and scoped access token to backend/.env.
2. Run bash scripts/setup_supabase.sh from the repository root.
3. Restart FastAPI.

The Bash command applies backend/supabase/schema.sql through the Management API and imports all ten starter articles. Use bash scripts/setup_supabase.sh --schema-only when you want the table without seed data.

The access token must be project-scoped with Database: Read-write permission. Supabase recommends scoped access tokens for agents and automation because their reach can be limited to one project. Do not paste database passwords, access tokens, or secret keys into chat.

Content API

• GET /api/profile
• GET /api/experience
• GET /api/skills
• GET /api/posts
• GET /api/posts/{slug}
• POST /api/auth/login
• GET /api/auth/session
• POST /api/posts (authenticated)
• PUT /api/posts/{slug} (authenticated)
• DELETE /api/posts/{slug} (authenticated)
• POST /api/uploads (authenticated)
• GET /api/uploads/{upload_id}
• GET /api/resume
• POST /api/contact

Edit the files in backend/data to update profile, career, and skill content. The health endpoint reports articles: supabase when the remote journal store is connected and articles: json-fallback otherwise.

Production build

cd frontend
npm run build
cd ..
uvicorn backend.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

When frontend/dist exists, FastAPI serves the built single-page application and supports direct links such as /experience and /blog/{slug}.