Run and deploy your AI Studio app

This contains everything you need to run your app locally.

View your app in AI Studio: https://ai.studio/apps/drive/1ID_byvQ0UE1LXaIyTqc2-s1fXiWYMGOY

Run Locally

Prerequisites: Node.js (version 14 or higher)

Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/prashanth-kaki/AI-Internship-Advisor.git
   cd AI-Internship-Advisor

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables:

   • Copy the example environment file:

     cp .env.local.example .env

   • Get your Gemini API key from Google AI Studio
   • Open .env and replace your_api_key_here with your actual API key:

     GEMINI_API_KEY=your_actual_api_key
     

4. Run the development server:

   # Start the backend server (in one terminal)
   npm run server
   
   # Start the Vite dev server (in another terminal)
   npm run dev

   Or for production:

   npm start

5. Open your browser:

   • Navigate to http://localhost:5173/AI-Internship-Advisor/
   • The app should now be running!

Deploy to GitHub Pages

This repository is configured to automatically deploy to GitHub Pages.

Setup Instructions

1. Go to your repository Settings → Pages
2. Under Source, select GitHub Actions
3. Push changes to your repository default branch or manually trigger the workflow
4. Your app will be available at: https://prashanth-kaki.github.io/AI-Internship-Advisor/

How it works

• The GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/deploy.yml) automatically builds and deploys the app
• The build is configured with the correct base URL in vite.config.ts
• Deployments happen automatically on pushes to the repository default branch

Setting Up the API Key for Deployment

The API key is kept securely on the server side and is never exposed to the browser. Set the GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable on your hosting platform (e.g., Render, Railway, or your own server).

For local production deployment:

GEMINI_API_KEY=your_actual_api_key npm start

Troubleshooting GitHub Pages blank screen

If the site shows a white screen, the most common cause is that GitHub Pages is serving source files instead of the Vite build output.

• In Settings → Pages, set Source to GitHub Actions (not Deploy from a branch).
• Ensure the deploy workflow has completed successfully after your latest push.
• The workflow is branch-name agnostic and deploys from whichever branch is configured as the repository default branch.

When Pages serves the repository root directly, index.html points to development entry files and the app will not render in production.