Knownn is a real-time, pseudonymous platform built for colleges and organizations. It brings together individuals with the same email domain (e.g., @college.edu) into a private, trusted space where they can share, discuss, and support each other — without revealing their identity.
People often hesitate to share thoughts on career struggles, academic stress, or social issues due to fear of judgment. Existing platforms lack true anonymity or domain-specific relevance, leaving users disconnected from relatable peer communities.
To create a safe, domain-restricted community where users can:
- Post and comment anonymously
- Share content suggestions
- Report or react without identity exposure
- Chat in real-time with people they actually know (same college or organization)
- Next.js – Frontend & API layer
- Node.js (Express) – Infrastructure backend
- Socket.io – Real-time messaging
- **Redis ** – Pub/Sub for message sync
- **Apache Kafka ** – Durable event streaming
- **PostgreSQL ** – Persistent data storage
- Prisma ORM – Type-safe database queries
- Tailwind CSS – Frontend styling
- Zod – Input validation
- Turborepo – Monorepo project structure
- Vercel – Frontend deployment
git clone https://github.com/23shivay/knownn.git
cd knownn
npm installSetup Instructions
Kafka & Redis Run Redis and Kafka locally or via Aiven Add credentials to .env inside apps/server
KAFKA_BROKER=
KAFKA_USERNAME=
REDIS_HOST=
REDIS_PASSWORD=
REDIS_PORT=
REDIS_USERNAME=
//frontend local host is Socket connect
SOCKET_CONNECT=PostgreSQL Run PostgreSQL locally or via Aiven.io Add credentials to .env inside packages/db
DATABASE_URL=
Add credentials to .env inside apps/front
GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD=
GMAIL_USER=
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=
cd packages/db
npx prisma migrate devnpm run dev