Introduction
Throughout my school and work life, I’ve always looked forward to lunchtime as a chance to connect with others. Whether it was a long break with classmates between classes, a quick lunch with co-workers before returning to our desks, or a lunch date to get to know someone better before committing to a full evening together, lunchtime became an opportunity to bond. I quickly realized that these moments often revealed unique insights into a person’s personality—especially in today’s fast-paced world, where we’re often hesitant to engage in longer social interactions. This sparked the idea of creating a way for people to connect through short, meaningful lunches—offering a quick yet rewarding way to learn about others without the pressure of lengthy commitments. And so, the concept of Lunchmates was born! In 2020, I had the privilege of bringing this idea to life with the support of my team at Le Wagon.
Lunchmates is an innovative platform designed to foster meaningful connections through the shared experience of a meal. Whether you're looking for lunchtime companionship or hoping to expand your social network, Lunchmates offers a unique and engaging solution. Embrace the power of brief but impactful interactions over food, and experience the joy of connecting with others on a deeper level. After all, as they say, "a conversation without food and drink is so DRY!"
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Registered Users
Create a profile and upload a profile picture.
Host a lunch event with the flexibility to choose the location, time, duration, and maximum number of participants.
Upload photos of the lunch events they've attended.
Leave comments on lunch event pages to share their experiences.
Set up food preferences to help match with compatible lunch partners.
Use the "Lucky" button to find a lunch event based on diet preferences.
Non-registered Users
View event photos, locations, and timings.
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Before installing Lunchmates, ensure you have the following dependencies:
Node.js version 14 or above
Ruby version 3.2.2
Steps to Install
Clone the repository:
Navigate to the project directory:
cd lunchmates
Install required gems (Note: No specific gem versions are required):
bundle install
Set up the database:
rails db:create db:migrate
Start the server:
rails server
Open your browser and visit:
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create an .env file and enter the sceret keys for using MapBox and Cloudinary. For example:
CLOUDINARY_URL=cloudinary://xxxxxx MAPBOX_API_KEY=xxxxx
Now you're all set to use Lunchmates locally!
Optional deployment
If you use Heroku, these are the steps after finished pushing:
heroku run rails db:migrate # Run pending migrations in production heroku run rails db:seed
Push secret keys to Heroku:
heroku config:set CLOUDINARY_URL=cloudinary://xxxxxx heroku config:set MAPBOX_API_KEY=xxxxx
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Lunchmates is an open-source project, and we welcome contributions from the community. If you'd like to contribute, follow these steps:
Fork the repository on GitHub.
Create a new branch with a descriptive name:
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
Make your changes and commit them with clear commit messages.
Push your changes to your forked repository:
git push origin feature/your-feature-name
Open a pull request to the original repository.
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Mana
Azadeh
Mattia
WuiYang
Le Wagon Teachers and TAs
Thank you to all the contributors who made Lunchmates possible!