SimpleProctoring

A simple, lightweight solution for proctoring

Development Plan

Executive Summary

Development of a lightweight, browser-based proctoring solution enabling real-time monitoring of student sessions with low latency, featuring screen sharing, webcam, audio capture, and session recording capabilities.

1. Technical Architecture

1.1 Recommended Tech Stack

Frontend

Framework: React 18+ with TypeScript
- Vite for build tooling (faster than webpack)
- React Query/TanStack Query for server state management
- Zustand for client state (lightweight alternative to Redux)
UI Components:
- Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui for consistent, performant styling
- Radix UI for accessible components
Real-time Communication:
- WebRTC for peer-to-peer video/audio/screen sharing
- Socket.io for signaling and chat
Video Processing:
- MediaRecorder API for client-side recording
- WebCodecs API for advanced codec control

Backend

Runtime: Node.js 20+ with TypeScript
Framework: Fastify (faster than Express)
- Fastify-websocket for WebSocket support
- Fastify-cors, fastify-helmet for security
Real-time Server:
- Socket.io for WebSocket management
- Mediasoup or Pion (Go-based) for SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit)
Authentication:
- Passport.js with multiple SSO strategies
- JWT for session management
- OAuth 2.0/OIDC support

Database & Storage

Primary Database: PostgreSQL 15+
- Prisma ORM for type-safe database access
- Redis for session storage and caching
Media Storage:
- MinIO (S3-compatible) for on-premise
- AWS S3/CloudFront for cloud deployment
Message Queue: Redis Streams or RabbitMQ for job processing

Infrastructure

Containerization: Docker + Docker Compose
Orchestration: Kubernetes (for production)
Monitoring: Prometheus + Grafana
Logging: ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)
CDN: CloudFlare for static assets

2. System Architecture Design

2.1 High-Level Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Load Balancer                        │
│                    (Nginx/HAProxy)                       │
└─────────────┬───────────────────────┬───────────────────┘
              │                       │
    ┌─────────▼──────────┐  ┌────────▼──────────┐
    │   Web Application  │  │  WebSocket Server  │
    │   (Fastify + Next) │  │   (Socket.io)      │
    └─────────┬──────────┘  └────────┬──────────┘
              │                       │
    ┌─────────▼───────────────────────▼──────────┐
    │            Media Server (SFU)               │
    │         (Mediasoup/Pion WebRTC)            │
    └─────────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                          │
    ┌─────────────────────▼───────────────────────┐
    │              Service Layer                   │
    ├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
    │ • Auth Service    • Session Service          │
    │ • Recording Service • Analytics Service      │
    └─────────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                          │
    ┌─────────────────────▼───────────────────────┐
    │             Data Layer                       │
    ├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
    │  PostgreSQL │ Redis │ MinIO/S3              │
    └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

2.2 Core Components

Authentication Service

interface IAuthService {
  authenticateSSO(provider: SSOProvider, credentials: ICredentials): Promise<IUser>;
  validateSession(token: string): Promise<ISession>;
  refreshToken(refreshToken: string): Promise<ITokenPair>;
  revokeSession(sessionId: string): Promise<void>;
}

Session Management Service

interface ISessionService {
  createSession(config: ISessionConfig): Promise<ISession>;
  joinSession(sessionId: string, participant: IParticipant): Promise<void>;
  startMonitoring(sessionId: string): Promise<void>;
  endSession(sessionId: string): Promise<void>;
  getActiveSession(sessionId: string): Promise<ISessionDetails>;
}

Media Streaming Service

interface IMediaService {
  initializeStream(config: IStreamConfig): Promise<IMediaStream>;
  handleOffer(offer: RTCSessionDescription): Promise<RTCSessionDescription>;
  processMediaTrack(track: MediaStreamTrack): Promise<void>;
  startRecording(sessionId: string): Promise<void>;
  stopRecording(sessionId: string): Promise<IRecording>;
}

3. Feature Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1-3)

Project Setup
- Initialize monorepo structure (Nx or Turborepo)
- Configure TypeScript, ESLint, Prettier
- Setup Docker development environment
- Initialize CI/CD pipeline

Database Design

-- Core tables
users (id, email, name, role, sso_provider, created_at)
sessions (id, proctor_id, title, scheduled_at, status)
participants (id, session_id, user_id, joined_at, left_at)
recordings (id, session_id, file_path, duration, size)
chat_messages (id, session_id, sender_id, message, timestamp)

Authentication System
- Implement SSO with Google, Microsoft, SAML 2.0
- JWT token management
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Session persistence with Redis

Phase 2: Core Functionality (Weeks 4-6)

Homepage & Navigation
- Landing page with feature overview
- Dynamic routing based on user role
- Responsive design implementation

Proctor Dashboard

class ProctorDashboard {
  private sessionManager: ISessionManager;
  private analyticsService: IAnalyticsService;
  
  async getUpcomingSessions(): Promise<ISession[]>;
  async createSession(config: ISessionConfig): Promise<ISession>;
  async viewSessionHistory(): Promise<ISessionHistory[]>;
  async generateReport(sessionId: string): Promise<IReport>;
}

Student Lobby

class StudentLobby {
  private websocketClient: IWebSocketClient;
  private mediaDeviceManager: IMediaDeviceManager;
  
  async joinLobby(sessionCode: string): Promise<void>;
  async testDevices(): Promise<IDeviceTestResult>;
  async waitForProctor(): Promise<void>;
  onSessionStart(callback: () => void): void;
}

Phase 3: Real-time Monitoring (Weeks 7-10)

WebRTC Implementation

class WebRTCManager {
  private peerConnection: RTCPeerConnection;
  private localStream: MediaStream;
  private remoteStreams: Map<string, MediaStream>;
  
  async initializeConnection(config: RTCConfiguration): Promise<void>;
  async shareScreen(): Promise<MediaStream>;
  async shareWebcam(): Promise<MediaStream>;
  async shareAudio(): Promise<MediaStream>;
  handleICECandidate(candidate: RTCIceCandidate): void;
}

Screen & Media Capture
- Implement screen capture with getDisplayMedia()
- Webcam capture with getUserMedia()
- Audio capture and noise suppression
- Bandwidth adaptation for quality optimization

Real-time Chat

class ChatService {
  private socket: Socket;
  private messageQueue: IMessage[];
  
  sendMessage(message: string): void;
  onMessageReceived(callback: (msg: IMessage) => void): void;
  getMessageHistory(sessionId: string): Promise<IMessage[]>;
}

Phase 4: Recording & Storage (Weeks 11-12)

Session Recording

class RecordingService {
  private mediaRecorder: MediaRecorder;
  private chunks: Blob[];
  
  async startRecording(streams: MediaStream[]): Promise<void>;
  async stopRecording(): Promise<Blob>;
  async uploadRecording(blob: Blob, metadata: IMetadata): Promise<string>;
  async compressVideo(input: Blob): Promise<Blob>; // Using WebCodecs
}

Storage Implementation
- Implement chunked upload for large files
- Video compression using H.264/VP9
- Metadata extraction and indexing
- Secure URL generation for playback

Phase 5: Optimization & Scaling (Weeks 13-14)

Performance Optimization
- Implement lazy loading and code splitting
- Optimize WebRTC with simulcast
- Add Redis caching layer
- Database query optimization
Scalability Features
- Horizontal scaling with Kubernetes
- Load balancing for media servers
- CDN integration for static assets
- Auto-scaling based on metrics

Phase 6: Testing & Deployment (Weeks 15-16)

Testing Strategy
- Unit tests with Jest
- Integration tests with Cypress
- Load testing with K6
- Security testing with OWASP ZAP
Deployment
- Production Docker images
- Kubernetes manifests
- SSL/TLS configuration
- Monitoring and alerting setup

4. Design Patterns & Principles

SOLID Implementation

// Single Responsibility
class SessionRecorder {
  record(stream: MediaStream): void { /* recording logic */ }
}

class SessionStorage {
  save(recording: Blob): Promise<string> { /* storage logic */ }
}

// Open/Closed Principle
interface IAuthProvider {
  authenticate(credentials: any): Promise<IUser>;
}

class GoogleAuthProvider implements IAuthProvider { }
class MicrosoftAuthProvider implements IAuthProvider { }

// Liskov Substitution
abstract class BaseMonitor {
  abstract startMonitoring(): void;
}

class ScreenMonitor extends BaseMonitor { }
class WebcamMonitor extends BaseMonitor { }

// Interface Segregation
interface IReadableSession {
  getDetails(): ISessionDetails;
}

interface IWritableSession {
  updateStatus(status: SessionStatus): void;
}

// Dependency Inversion
class SessionController {
  constructor(
    private sessionService: ISessionService,
    private notificationService: INotificationService
  ) {}
}

DRY & KISS Examples

// DRY - Reusable hook for media devices
const useMediaDevice = (constraints: MediaStreamConstraints) => {
  const [stream, setStream] = useState<MediaStream>();
  const [error, setError] = useState<Error>();
  
  useEffect(() => {
    navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia(constraints)
      .then(setStream)
      .catch(setError);
  }, [constraints]);
  
  return { stream, error };
};

// KISS - Simple state management
const sessionStore = create<SessionState>((set) => ({
  session: null,
  setSession: (session) => set({ session }),
  clearSession: () => set({ session: null })
}));

5. Security Considerations

Security Implementation

End-to-end encryption for media streams
DTLS-SRTP for WebRTC security
Rate limiting on API endpoints
Input validation and sanitization
CORS configuration with whitelisting
CSP headers for XSS protection
SQL injection prevention with parameterized queries
Session hijacking prevention with secure cookies

6. Performance Metrics

Target KPIs

Connection establishment: < 3 seconds
Stream latency: < 500ms
Video quality: 720p @ 30fps minimum
Audio latency: < 200ms
Recording compression: 60% size reduction
Concurrent sessions: 1000+ per server
API response time: < 100ms p95
Uptime: 99.9% availability

7. Development Timeline

Phase	Duration	Deliverables
Foundation	3 weeks	Auth system, Database, CI/CD
Core Features	3 weeks	Dashboard, Lobby, Navigation
Real-time	4 weeks	WebRTC, Chat, Monitoring
Recording	2 weeks	Recording, Storage, Playback
Optimization	2 weeks	Performance, Scaling
Testing & Deploy	2 weeks	Tests, Documentation, Deployment

Total Timeline: 16 weeks (4 months)

8. Team Structure

Recommended Team

1 Tech Lead - Architecture decisions, code reviews
2 Backend Engineers - API, WebRTC, Services
2 Frontend Engineers - UI/UX, Real-time features
1 DevOps Engineer - Infrastructure, CI/CD
1 QA Engineer - Testing strategy, automation

9. Risk Mitigation

Technical Risks

WebRTC complexity → Use established libraries (Mediasoup)
Scaling challenges → Start with SFU architecture
Browser compatibility → Progressive enhancement approach
Network reliability → Implement reconnection logic
Storage costs → Implement retention policies

10. Success Criteria

Successfully monitor 100+ concurrent sessions
Achieve < 1% packet loss in normal conditions
Record and playback sessions without quality degradation
Maintain sub-second latency for real-time features
Pass security audit and penetration testing
Achieve 95% user satisfaction score

Conclusion

This plan provides a comprehensive roadmap for developing a robust, scalable, and performant proctoring solution. The architecture emphasizes modern web technologies, clean code principles, and user experience while maintaining security and reliability as core priorities.

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README.md		README.md

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