Calm Notes

A full-stack AI-powered clinical notes application for therapists and mental health professionals. Write raw session notes, choose a structured format (SOAP / DAP / BIRP), and let GPT-4o generate polished clinical documentation in seconds. Includes Stripe billing with free / pro / team tiers.

Features

• AI-assisted note generation (GPT-4o) in SOAP, DAP, and BIRP formats
• PDF export for every session note
• Stripe subscription billing (Free / Pro / Team) with usage metering
• Session-cookie authentication (httpOnly, secure in production)
• Rate-limited auth endpoints (5 req / 15 min) and global API limiter
• Helmet security headers with strict CSP in production
• PostgreSQL persistence via Drizzle ORM

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 18, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui
Backend	Node.js, Express, Passport.js (local strategy)
Database	PostgreSQL + Drizzle ORM, connect-pg-simple sessions
AI	OpenAI GPT-4o
Billing	Stripe (Checkout, Customer Portal, Webhooks)
DevOps	Docker, Docker Compose

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• PostgreSQL 15+
• (Optional) Docker + Docker Compose
• OpenAI API key (for AI generation)
• Stripe account + keys (for billing features)

Setup

1. Clone and configure

git clone https://github.com/biswajeetdev/Calm-Notes
cd Calm-Notes
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your real values (see table below)

2. Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes	PostgreSQL connection string, e.g. postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/calmnotes
SESSION_SECRET	Yes	Random string, min 32 chars — openssl rand -base64 48
OPENAI_API_KEY	No	GPT-4o key — AI generation disabled if absent
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY	No	Stripe secret key (sk_test_...) — billing disabled if absent
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET	No	Webhook signing secret (whsec_...)
STRIPE_PRICE_ID_PRO	No	Stripe Price ID for the Pro plan
STRIPE_PRICE_ID_TEAM	No	Stripe Price ID for the Team plan
NODE_ENV	No	development (default) or production
PORT	No	Server port (default: 5000)

3. Install and run (local)

npm install          # installs root + workspace deps
npm run db:push      # apply Drizzle schema to your DB
npm run dev          # starts Express + Vite dev server on :5000

4. Run with Docker

# Make sure .env is filled in, then:
docker compose up --build

The app will be available at http://localhost:5000.

Project Structure

Calm-Notes/
├── client/          # React + Vite frontend
│   └── src/
│       ├── pages/   # Landing, Dashboard, NewNote, NoteDetail, Settings, Pricing
│       ├── hooks/   # useAuth, useNotes, useSubscription
│       └── lib/     # queryClient, api helpers
├── server/          # Express backend
│   ├── auth/        # Passport.js session auth + rate limiting
│   ├── billing/     # Stripe checkout, portal, webhooks
│   ├── routes.ts    # Notes CRUD + AI generation + PDF export
│   ├── storage.ts   # Drizzle data-access layer
│   └── db.ts        # PostgreSQL pool
└── shared/          # Types and schema shared between client and server

Security Notes

• Passwords hashed with bcrypt (10 rounds)
• Session cookie: httpOnly: true, secure: true in production, sameSite: lax
• Helmet CSP enabled in production
• Auth endpoints rate-limited: 5 req / 15 min per IP
• Stripe webhook signatures verified before processing
• passwordHash field stripped from all API responses