🛡️ Sentinel

A secure authentication and access-management service with an admin dashboard.

Sign-in, session control and two-factor authentication (2FA), built as a full-stack project.

Live Demo · Backend API · Report a Bug

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📸 Screenshots

Sign in	Security (2FA setup)

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📖 Overview

Most apps need a login system, and most login systems are either too basic or copy-pasted without much thought for security. Sentinel is a standalone auth service that handles the hard parts properly: account creation, sign-in, session tracking, and an extra layer of protection with time-based one-time passwords (TOTP).

A React dashboard sits on top of the API so users can see where they are signed in and manage their own account security.

✨ Features

• Account registration and sign-in with email and password
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) using any authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc.)
  • Scan a QR code, or enter the manual key
  • Confirm with a 6-digit code before 2FA is switched on
• Session management: view your active sessions from the "My sessions" page
• Security page: see the current 2FA status and turn it on from one place
• Admin dashboard built in React
• Clean separation: independent frontend and backend folders

🧱 Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React, CSS
Backend	Node.js, Express.js
Auth	Password-based login + TOTP 2FA
Frontend hosting	Vercel
Version control	Git, GitHub

📂 Project Structure

sentinel/
├── backend/        # Node.js + Express API
├── frontend/       # React app (sign-in, sessions, security)
├── docs/
│   └── screenshots/
│       ├── sign-in.png
│       └── security-2fa.png
└── README.md

🔐 How 2FA Works

1. The user opens the Security page and starts 2FA setup.
2. The server generates a secret and the frontend shows it as a QR code (plus a manual key).
3. The user scans it with an authenticator app, which starts producing a new 6-digit code every 30 seconds.
4. The user enters the current code and clicks Turn on 2FA.
5. The server verifies the code against the secret. If it matches, 2FA is enabled on the account.

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/0xAlpha01/sentinel.git
cd sentinel

2. Run the backend

cd backend
npm install
cp .env.example .env   # then fill in your values
npm run dev

3. Run the frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm start

The app will open at http://localhost:3000.

🔑 Environment Variables

Create a .env file in backend/:

PORT=5000
JWT_SECRET=your_long_random_secret
# add your database URL and any other values your backend uses

🛡️ Security Notes

• Never commit your .env file
• Passwords are stored hashed, never in plain text
• 2FA secrets should only be shown once, during setup

🗺️ Roadmap

• Backup / recovery codes for 2FA
• Revoke individual sessions from the dashboard
• Role-based access control
• Rate limiting on sign-in attempts

👤 Author

Amoo Abdulmueez (0xAlpha) GitHub: @0xAlpha01

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