Newsly — Ultra-Short News App

A React-based cross-platform news app that delivers ultra-short (≈60-word) news stories with swipeable cards. Built with React + Capacitor for web and native mobile deployment.

📸 Screenshots — Google Pixel 9

Landing Page	Genre Selection

News Feed	Settings

🚀 Features

📱 Core Experience

• Cross-Platform: Runs on Web, Android (APK/AAB), and iOS (planned) via Capacitor 5
• Ultra-Short Summaries: News stories condensed to ~60 words — no fluff, just facts
• TikTok-style Swipe: Two-card stack with translateY transitions, double-rAF two-phase animation, 380ms cubic-bezier easing — swipe or use arrow keys
• Real-time News: Live Google News RSS feeds, auto-refreshes on country or genre change without a full page reload
• Infinite Scroll: Automatically appends more articles (deduped by URL) when within 3 cards of the end
• Reading Time: Per-article word-count estimate displayed on each card (~200 wpm)

🎨 UI & Design

• Dark / Light Mode: Toggle on every screen — Landing, Genre Selection, Feed, and Settings; defaults to light, persisted to localStorage
• Redesigned Landing Page: Hero layout with 2-column feature grid (Zap / Globe2 / Bookmark / ShieldCheck), theme toggle, and Skip button
• Redesigned Genre Selection: Dark 2-column tile grid with per-genre gradient colors, animated checkmark badge on selected tiles, scale bump, sticky progress bar + CTA
• Redesigned Settings Page: Profile strip with gradient icon, grouped Section cards (rounded-2xl), SettingRow with colored icon pills + Toggle switch, bottom-sheet backdrop-blur modals
• Swipe-proof Header: Touch events outside the card are captured to prevent the header from being dragged away — inner text panel remains independently scrollable

🔍 Search

• Debounced Search: 400ms debounce so results only filter after you stop typing
• Article / Newspaper Toggle: Switch between searching article titles+descriptions vs. source names (e.g. "BBC", "Reuters", "The Hindu")
• Inline No-Results Fallback: When a search yields zero results, a friendly card replaces the stack with hint text and quick-action buttons (Clear search / Switch mode) — you never leave the feed
• Typing Indicator: "Searching…" overlay shown during the debounce window

🌍 Personalisation

• Country Selection: 15+ countries with flag indicators — news scoped to your region, passed server-side via countryParam
• Genre Selection: 8 categories — Technology, World, Business, Sports, Science, Health, Entertainment, Politics
• Default Sort: Toggle between Personalized feed or Latest news
• Hide Paywalled Articles: Filter out articles from 30 known paywalled sources (expanded from 9)
• Font Size: Small / Medium / Large reading preference

🖼️ Smart Images

• Wikipedia Image Pipeline: MediaWiki search+pageimages API with keyword extraction, financial stop-word filtering, per-session module-level cache, and CapacitorHttp on Android native to bypass WebView CORS

🔖 Saves & Social

• Bookmarking: Save articles to a dedicated Bookmarks page, persisted to localStorage
• Comments System: Inline name prompt, 500-character limit with live counter, like deduplication keyed by hashKey — no window.prompt(), no repeat likes
• Share Functionality: Native share sheet on mobile, clipboard fallback on web
• Read Aloud: SpeechManager singleton (Web Speech API TTS) — listen to articles hands-free

🧠 AI & Analysis

• Bias Analysis: Community bias panel + vote sheet keyed by hashKey
• Enhanced Bias Mode: When enabled in Settings, auto-runs /api/ai/bias-analysis on every article load and pre-fills the score

🛡️ Reliability & Security

• Error Boundary: React class component wraps the entire app — catches render crashes, shows "Try again" UI
• hashKey (djb2): All localStorage keys derived from article IDs use a collision-resistant djb2 hash instead of btoa() — safe against special characters and encoding collisions
• Serverless-First Fetching: api.js tries /api/news (Vercel serverless, true server-side CORS bypass) first; falls back to allorigins.win CORS proxy for local dev / fallback
• Progress Indicator: X / Y counter below the card stack

⚙️ Settings

• Appearance: Dark/light theme toggle
• Feed: Hide paywalled (30 domains), default sort mode, Enhanced Bias Analysis
• Notifications: On/off toggle
• Account: Bookmarks, Subscriptions (stub), Clear History, Feedback, Help & Support
• Danger Zone: Log out (clears localStorage)

📅 Development Timeline

Date	Version	Updates
19/03/2026	v3.1.0	🔍 Search, Reliability & UX Polish • Debounced search (400 ms) with Article / Newspaper toggle - filter by title+description or by source name. • Inline no-results fallback - friendly card with Clear search and Switch mode CTAs replaces card stack; never kicks user out of the feed. • Typing indicator overlay during debounce window. • ErrorBoundary component wraps entire app - catches render crashes with Try again UI. • hashKey (djb2) replaces btoa() for all localStorage keys - collision-resistant, safe against special characters. • CommentsCard rewrite - inline name prompt (no window.prompt()), 500-char limit with live counter, like deduplication per article. • SpeechManager singleton (speech.js) replaces ad-hoc inline speech code in NewsCard. • Reading time estimate per article (word-count / 200 wpm). • Enhanced Bias auto-run - when enabled in Settings, bias score fetched automatically on article load. • Serverless-first fetch - api.js now tries /api/news (Vercel, true server-side bypass) before CORS proxy fallback. • Country-aware serverless - api/news.js accepts countryParam query param; builds country-scoped RSS URLs server-side. • Infinite scroll - auto-appends more articles (URL-deduped) when within 3 cards of end. • Progress indicator - X / Y counter below card stack. • No reload on country change - loadNews(forceRefresh, countryOverride) replaces window.location.reload(). • Swipe-proof header - touchAction: none plus gesture capture on main prevents header from being swiped away; inner text panel independently scrollable. • Paywall list expanded 9 to 30 domains (Telegraph, Wired, HBR, Nature, Barrons, regional papers, AFR, etc.). • Dead code removed: HeaderBar.jsx, SettingsModal.jsx, UnderConstruction.jsx.
19/03/2026	v3.1.0	🔍 Search, Reliability & UX Polish • Debounced search (400 ms) with Article / Newspaper toggle - filter by title+description or by source name. • Inline no-results fallback - friendly card with Clear search and Switch mode CTAs replaces card stack; never kicks user out of the feed. • Typing indicator overlay during debounce window. • ErrorBoundary component wraps entire app - catches render crashes with Try again UI. • hashKey (djb2) replaces btoa() for all localStorage keys - collision-resistant, safe against special characters. • CommentsCard rewrite - inline name prompt (no window.prompt()), 500-char limit with live counter, like deduplication per article. • SpeechManager singleton (speech.js) replaces ad-hoc inline speech code in NewsCard. • Reading time estimate per article (word-count / 200 wpm). • Enhanced Bias auto-run - when enabled in Settings, bias score fetched automatically on article load. • Serverless-first fetch - api.js now tries /api/news (Vercel, true server-side bypass) before CORS proxy fallback. • Country-aware serverless - api/news.js accepts countryParam query param; builds country-scoped RSS URLs server-side. • Infinite scroll - auto-appends more articles (URL-deduped) when within 3 cards of end. • Progress indicator - X / Y counter below card stack. • No reload on country change - loadNews(forceRefresh, countryOverride) replaces window.location.reload(). • Swipe-proof header - touchAction: none plus gesture capture on main prevents header from being swiped away; inner text panel independently scrollable. • Paywall list expanded 9 to 30 domains (Telegraph, Wired, HBR, Nature, Barrons, regional papers, AFR, etc.). • Dead code removed: HeaderBar.jsx, SettingsModal.jsx, UnderConstruction.jsx.
15/03/2026	v3.0.0	🎨 Full UI Overhaul & Bug Fixes • TikTok-style swipe animation: two-card stack with translateY transitions, double-rAF two-phase animation, 380 ms cubic-bezier easing. • Wikipedia Smart Images: switched from page/summary to MediaWiki search+pageimages API; keyword extraction strips financial stop words; per-session module-level cache; CapacitorHttp on Android native to bypass WebView CORS. • Flicker & white-flash fixes: removed synchronous setResolvedImage(null) and isTransitioning opacity animation from Feed. • Country dropdown z-index fix: Feed header gets relative z-50 so selector renders above card stack. • Landing page redesign: dark/light hero layout, 2-column feature grid (Zap / Globe2 / Bookmark / ShieldCheck icons), sun/moon toggle, Skip button. • Genre Selection redesign: dark 2-column square tile grid with per-genre gradient colors, checkmark badge on selected tiles, scale bump, sticky progress bar + CTA. • Settings page redesign: Profile strip with gradient icon, grouped Section cards (rounded-2xl), SettingRow with colored icon pills + Toggle switch, bottom-sheet backdrop-blur modals; sections: Appearance / Feed / Notifications / Account / Support / Danger zone. • Theme toggle added to Landing and Genre Selection (uses existing ThemeContext, defaults to light). • ~15 miscellaneous bug fixes (Bengali locale, Android build, image cache race conditions, etc.)
16/08/2025	v2.3.0	🎨 Layout Refresh & Settings Expansion • New compact header in Feed with country selector, refresh, sort (Personalized/Latest), theme and settings buttons. • “Swipe up” affordance and smoother card transitions. • Read Aloud controls and keyboard shortcuts (Arrow Up/Down, Ctrl+Space). • Community Bias features: analysis panel + vote sheet with local persistence. • Article translation with LibreTranslate/Lingva fallback. • Settings additions: Theme, Notifications, Reading font size, Hide paywalled, Default sort, Bookmarks, Subscriptions (stub), Clear history, Feedback, Help & Support, Logout
16/08/2025	v2.2.0	🖼️ Smart Image Resolver & Reliability • Prefer original article URL (bypass Google News redirect). • Extract images from OG/Twitter/JSON‑LD/srcset and follow canonical links. • Openverse photograph fallback when no image is found. • Web image proxying for reliability (Weserv). • Improved handling of placeholder/flag images
30/01/2025	v2.1.0	🌍 Country Selection Feature • Added 15+ country support with flag indicators. • Auto-refresh on country change. • Visual loading states for country selector. • Improved refresh button feedback
29/01/2025	v2.0.0	🔧 Major UI/UX Improvements • Fixed mobile external URL navigation. • TikTok-style swipe navigation. • Dark/Light theme toggle. • Comments system with local storage. • Responsive design for mobile/desktop. • Share functionality. • Capacitor integration for mobile apps. • Mobile "Read More" button fixes
28/01/2025	v1.5.0	📱 Mobile Optimization • Enhanced swipe gestures. • Improved touch responsiveness. • Better mobile UI components
27/01/2025	v1.0.0	🎉 Initial Release • Core news fetching functionality. • Genre selection. • Basic UI components. • Web deployment ready

🏗️ Architecture Overview

App Layer

flowchart TD
    A(["👤 User"])

    A --> Landing

    subgraph Pages["🗂️ Pages — React Router v6"]
        direction TB
        Landing["🏠 Landing\nHero · Feature Grid · Theme Toggle"]
        Genre["🎯 GenreSelection\n2-col Gradient Tile Grid · Progress Bar"]
        Feed["📰 Feed\nTikTok Swipe Stack · Country Selector"]
        Bookmarks["🔖 Bookmarks\nSaved Articles List"]
        Settings["⚙️ Settings\nSections · Toggles · Bottom-sheet Modals"]

        Landing -->|"Get Started"| Genre
        Genre -->|"Confirm genres"| Feed
        Feed --> Bookmarks
        Feed --> Settings
    end

    subgraph Components["🧩 Shared Components"]
        direction TB
        NewsCard["📄 NewsCard\nSwipe · Reading Time · Bias Auto-run"]
        ErrorBoundary["🛡️ ErrorBoundary\nRender Error Catch · Retry UI"]
        CountrySelector["🌍 CountrySelector\nFlag Dropdown — z-50 above stack"]
        CommentsCard["💬 CommentsCard\nInline Name · 500-char Limit · Dedup"]
    end

    subgraph State["🗃️ Global State — React Context"]
        direction LR
        ThemeCtx["🌙 ThemeContext\nisDark / toggleTheme\n→ localStorage"]
        BookmarkCtx["🔖 BookmarkContext\nbookmarks[]\n→ localStorage"]
    end

    subgraph Utils["🛠️ Utils & Services"]
        direction LR
        apiJs["api.js\nserverless-first fetchNews()"]
        mockApi["mockApi.js\nXML → article[] · getCountryParam()"]
        storageJs["storage.js\nget/set helpers · hashKey (djb2)"]
        speechJs["speech.js\nSpeechManager singleton"]
        genresJs["genres.js\nGradient map"]
    end

    Feed --> NewsCard
    Feed --> CountrySelector
    NewsCard --> CommentsCard
    App --> ErrorBoundary
    Feed --> apiJs
    apiJs --> mockApi
    Settings --> ThemeCtx
    Settings --> storageJs
    Feed --> BookmarkCtx

    classDef page fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#2563eb,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef component fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#16a34a,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef ctx fill:#fef9c3,stroke:#ca8a04,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef util fill:#ede9fe,stroke:#7c3aed,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef user fill:#f1f5f9,stroke:#475569,color:#0f172a,rx:20

    class Landing,Genre,Feed,Bookmarks,Settings page
    class NewsCard,ErrorBoundary,CountrySelector,CommentsCard component
    class ThemeCtx,BookmarkCtx ctx
    class apiJs,mockApi,storageJs,speechJs,genresJs util
    class A user

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---

Data & Platform Layer

flowchart TD
    subgraph Fetch["📡 News Fetching — api.js"]
        direction TB
        Check{"Running on\nnative platform?"}
        Serverless["POST /api/news\nVercel serverless (tried first)"]
        CapHttp["CapacitorHttp.get\nBypasses WebView CORS"]
        Proxy["fetch → allorigins.win\nCORS proxy fallback"]
        Check -->|"Android / iOS"| CapHttp
        Check -->|"Web — try serverless"| Serverless
        Serverless -->|"fails"| Proxy
    end

    subgraph RSS["☁️ Google News RSS"]
        direction TB
        GRSS["news.google.com/rss\nper country hl/gl param\n+ genre topic URL"]
    end

    subgraph Images["🖼️ Wikipedia Image Pipeline — NewsCard"]
        direction TB
        Query["buildWikiQuery\nstrip tickers + stop-words\ntop-5 keywords"]
        Wiki["MediaWiki API\nsearch + pageimages"]
        Cache["resolvedImageCache\nmodule-level Map\n(per session)"]
        Query --> Wiki --> Cache
    end

    subgraph Serverless["☁️ Vercel Serverless"]
        direction TB
        NewsAPI["api/news.js\nServer-side RSS fetch"]
        BiasAPI["api/ai/bias-analysis.js\nAI bias scoring"]
    end

    subgraph Platform["📲 Platform Layer — Capacitor 5"]
        direction LR
        Web["🌐 Web\nVite dist · Vercel CDN"]
        Android["🤖 Android\nAPK / AAB · CapacitorHttp"]
        iOS["🍎 iOS\nplanned"]
    end

    CapHttp --> GRSS
    Proxy --> GRSS
    NewsAPI -.->|server-side bypass| GRSS

    Fetch --> RSS
    Images -.->|image lookup| Wiki

    Platform --> Fetch
    Platform --> Images

    classDef fetch fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#2563eb,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef rss fill:#fff7ed,stroke:#ea580c,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef img fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#16a34a,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef server fill:#fef9c3,stroke:#ca8a04,color:#0f172a,rx:8
    classDef platform fill:#f1f5f9,stroke:#475569,color:#0f172a,rx:8

    class Check,CapHttp,Proxy,Serverless fetch
    class GRSS rss
    class Query,Wiki,Cache img
    class NewsAPI,BiasAPI server
    class Web,Android,iOS platform

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🔄 News Feed Flow

flowchart TD
    A([User opens app]) --> B[Landing.jsx\nhero + feature grid]
    B -->|Get Started| C[GenreSelection.jsx\nselect 1–8 categories]
    C -->|Confirm → genres saved\nto localStorage| D[Feed.jsx\nTikTok swipe stack]

    D --> E{fetchNews\ngenre + country}
    E --> F{Running on\nnative platform?}
    F -->|Yes — Android| G[CapacitorHttp.get\nbypasses WebView CORS]
    F -->|No — Web| H[fetch via\nallorigins.win proxy]
    G --> I[Google News RSS]
    H --> I
    I --> J[mockApi.js\nparseXML → article array]
    J --> K[Render NewsCard stack\ntwo-card z-indexed]

    K --> L{User action}
    L -->|Swipe up / Arrow↑| M[Next article\ndouble-rAF translateY\n380ms cubic-bezier]
    L -->|Swipe down / Arrow↓| N[Prev article\nsame animation]
    L -->|Tap Bookmark| O[BookmarkContext\n→ localStorage]
    L -->|Tap Share| P[navigator.share\nor clipboard]
    L -->|Long-press / Comments| Q[CommentsCard\nlocal votes]
    L -->|Tap Read More| R[Open article URL\nin browser / app]

    K --> S[Wikipedia Image Pipeline]
    S --> T[buildWikiQuery\nstrip tickers + stop-words\ntop-5 keywords]
    T --> U{Platform?}
    U -->|Native| V[CapacitorHttp → MediaWiki\nsearch+pageimages API]
    U -->|Web| W[fetch → MediaWiki\nsearch+pageimages API]
    V --> X[resolvedImageCache\nmodule-level Map]
    W --> X
    X --> Y[img src in NewsCard]

    D --> Z[CountrySelector\nflag dropdown z-50]
    Z -->|setSelectedCountry| E

    classDef page fill:#e0f2fe,stroke:#2563eb,color:#0f172a
    classDef decision fill:#fef9c3,stroke:#ca8a04,color:#0f172a
    classDef external fill:#fff7ed,stroke:#ea580c,color:#0f172a
    classDef action fill:#f0fdf4,stroke:#16a34a,color:#0f172a
    classDef storage fill:#f5f3ff,stroke:#7c3aed,color:#0f172a

    class A,B,C,D,K page
    class E,F,L,U decision
    class I,V,W,R external
    class M,N,O,P,Q,S,T,X,Y action
    class O,X storage

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---

🔀 Swipe Animation Flow

flowchart TD
    A([Touch / Key event]) --> B{Direction?}
    B -->|Up / ArrowUp| C[pendingIndexRef = currentIndex + 1]
    B -->|Down / ArrowDown| D[pendingIndexRef = currentIndex - 1]

    C --> E[setAnimating true\nsetAnimDir up]
    D --> F[setAnimating true\nsetAnimDir down]

    E --> G[rAF 1 — layout paint]
    F --> G
    G --> H[rAF 2 — setAnimReady true\ntrigger CSS transition]
    H --> I[translateY current card:\nup → -110vh  down → +110vh\n380ms cubic-bezier 0.4,0,0.2,1]
    I --> J[onTransitionEnd]
    J --> K[setCurrentIndex = pendingIndexRef\nsetAnimating false\nsetAnimReady false]
    K --> L[New card snaps into place]

    classDef anim fill:#e0f2fe,stroke:#2563eb,color:#0f172a
    classDef trigger fill:#f0fdf4,stroke:#16a34a,color:#0f172a
    classDef state fill:#fef9c3,stroke:#ca8a04,color:#0f172a

    class A,B trigger
    class C,D,E,F,G,H,I anim
    class J,K,L state

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---

🗂️ localStorage Data Model

erDiagram
    APP_STATE {
        string newsly-theme "light | dark"
        string newsly-genres "JSON array of selected genre ids"
        string newsly-country "country code e.g. us, in, gb"
        string newsly-sort "personalized | latest"
    }

    ARTICLE_INTERACTIONS {
        string newsly-bookmarks "JSON array of article objects"
        string newsly-comments "JSON map hashKey(articleId) → comment[]"
        string newsly-bias-votes "JSON map hashKey(articleId) → vote"
        string newsly-liked-comments "JSON map hashKey(articleId) → Set of liked comment ids"
        string newsly-reading-history "JSON array of viewed article ids"
    }

    PREFERENCES {
        string newsly-notifications "true | false"
        string newsly-font-size "small | medium | large"
        string newsly-hide-paywalled "true | false"
        string newsly-enhanced-bias "true | false"
    }

    APP_STATE ||--o{ ARTICLE_INTERACTIONS : "drives feed for"
    APP_STATE ||--o{ PREFERENCES : "combined with"

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 18 - UI framework with hooks
• Vite - Build tool and dev server
• React Router - Client-side routing
• Tailwind CSS - Utility-first styling
• Lucide React - Icon library
• Framer Motion - Animations (optional)

Mobile

• Capacitor - Cross-platform native runtime
• Capacitor HTTP - Native HTTP requests
• Android SDK - Android app compilation
• Xcode - iOS app compilation

Backend/API

• Google News RSS - News data source
• XML Parser - RSS feed processing
• CORS Proxy - Web development (allorigins.win)
• Country API - Country-specific news feeds

Storage

• localStorage - Client-side data persistence
• No Database - Fully client-side application

📁 Project Structure

newsly/
│
├── src/                              # React application source
│   │
│   ├── App.jsx                       # Root component — React Router route definitions
│   ├── main.jsx                      # Entry point — mounts React + global CSS
│   ├── index.css                     # Tailwind base imports + custom global styles
│   │
│   ├── pages/                        # Full-screen route pages
│   │   ├── Landing.jsx               # Hero onboarding — feature grid, dark/light toggle
│   │   ├── GenreSelection.jsx        # 2-col gradient tile grid, progress bar, theme toggle
│   │   ├── Feed.jsx                  # News feed — TikTok swipe stack, country selector
│   │   ├── Settings.jsx              # Full-page settings — sections, toggles, modals
│   │   └── Bookmarks.jsx             # Saved articles list
│   │
│   ├── components/                   # Reusable UI building blocks
│   │   ├── NewsCard.jsx              # Article card — image pipeline, reading time, bias auto-run
│   │   ├── CommentsCard.jsx          # Inline comments — name prompt, 500-char limit, like dedup
│   │   ├── CountrySelector.jsx       # Flag dropdown (z-50, above card stack)
│   │   └── ErrorBoundary.jsx         # Class component — render error catch + retry UI
│   │
│   ├── contexts/                     # React context providers
│   │   ├── ThemeContext.jsx          # isDark state, toggleTheme(), localStorage sync
│   │   └── BookmarkContext.jsx       # bookmarks[], add/remove, localStorage sync
│   │
│   └── utils/                        # Pure helpers and service modules
│       ├── api.js                    # fetchNews() — serverless-first, CORS proxy fallback
│       ├── mockApi.js                # XML → article[] parser · getCountryParam() export
│       ├── genres.js                 # Genre definitions + GENRE_STYLES gradient map
│       ├── storage.js                # get/set helpers · hashKey(str) djb2 export
│       ├── constants.js              # PAYWALLED_DOMAINS (30), countries, flags
│       ├── speech.js                 # SpeechManager singleton — TTS read-aloud
│       └── __tests__/
│           └── countryNews.test.js   # Jest unit tests for country news fetching
│
├── api/                              # Vercel serverless functions
│   ├── news.js                       # /api/news — server-side RSS fetch (CORS bypass)
│   └── ai/
│       └── bias-analysis.js          # /api/ai/bias-analysis — AI bias scoring endpoint
│
├── android/                          # Capacitor Android project (auto-generated)
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── src/main/
│   │   │   ├── AndroidManifest.xml   # Permissions: internet, vibrate
│   │   │   ├── java/com/newsly/app/
│   │   │   │   └── MainActivity.java # Capacitor bridge entry point
│   │   │   └── res/                  # Icons, splash screens, layouts
│   │   └── build.gradle
│   ├── capacitor.build.gradle
│   ├── variables.gradle              # SDK version pins
│   └── local.properties              # sdk.dir path (machine-local, gitignored)
│
├── index.html                        # Vite HTML shell
├── vite.config.js                    # Vite build config
├── tailwind.config.js                # Tailwind theme + dark mode: 'class'
├── postcss.config.js                 # PostCSS (Tailwind + Autoprefixer)
├── capacitor.config.json             # App ID, webDir, CapacitorHttp plugin config
├── jest.config.js                    # Jest test runner config
├── vercel.json                       # Vercel routing / function config
└── package.json                      # Scripts, dependencies

🔧 API Architecture

News Fetching Strategy

// Platform Detection
if (window.Capacitor?.isNativePlatform()) {
  // Native: Use Capacitor HTTP (bypasses CORS)
  const response = await CapacitorHttp.get({
    url: googleNewsRssUrl,
    headers: { 'User-Agent': 'NewsBot/1.0' }
  });
} else {
  // Web: Use CORS proxy
  const response = await fetch(corsProxyUrl + googleNewsRssUrl);
}

Country-Specific RSS URLs

const getCountrySpecificUrl = (category, country) => {
  const baseUrls = {
    'technology': 'https://news.google.com/rss/topics/CAAqJggKIiBDQkFTRWdvSUwyMHZNRFZxYUdjU0FtVnVHZ0pWVXlnQVAB',
    'business': 'https://news.google.com/rss/topics/CAAqJggKIiBDQkFTRWdvSUwyMHZNRGx6TVdZU0FtVnVHZ0pWVXlnQVAB',
    // ... more categories
  };

  return country === 'global'
    ? baseUrls[category]
    : `${baseUrls[category]}?hl=${country}&gl=${country.toUpperCase()}`;
};

RSS Feed Processing

// XML to JSON conversion with country support
const parser = new DOMParser();
const xmlDoc = parser.parseFromString(xmlText, 'text/xml');
const items = xmlDoc.querySelectorAll('item');

// Extract article data
const articles = Array.from(items).map(item => ({
  title: item.querySelector('title')?.textContent,
  description: cleanDescription(item.querySelector('description')?.textContent),
  link: item.querySelector('link')?.textContent,
  pubDate: new Date(item.querySelector('pubDate')?.textContent),
  category: category,
  country: selectedCountry,
  id: generateUniqueId()
}));

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ (Current: v20.16.0 supported)
• Android Studio (for Android development)
• Xcode (for iOS development, macOS only)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd newsly

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Start development server:

npm run dev

4. Open in browser:

http://localhost:5173

Mobile Development

Android Setup

1. Add Android platform:

npx cap add android

2. Build and sync:

npm run build
npx cap sync

3. Open in Android Studio:

npx cap open android

4. Run on device/emulator:

npm run android

iOS Setup (macOS only)

1. Add iOS platform:

npx cap add ios

2. Build and sync:

npm run build
npx cap sync

3. Open in Xcode:

npx cap open ios

📱 Building for Production

Web Deployment

# Build for web
npm run build

# Preview build
npm run preview

# Deploy to Vercel/Netlify
# Upload dist/ folder

Android APK

1. Generate keystore:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore my-release-key.keystore -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000 -alias my-key-alias

2. Build signed APK:

npm run build
npx cap sync
npx cap build android --keystorepath ./my-release-key.keystore --keystorepass YOUR_PASSWORD --keystorealias my-key-alias --keystorealiaspass YOUR_ALIAS_PASSWORD --androidreleasetype APK

3. APK location:

android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release-signed.apk

iOS App Store

1. Build for iOS:

npm run build
npx cap sync
npx cap open ios

2. In Xcode:
   • Set signing team
   • Archive for distribution
   • Upload to App Store Connect

🔧 Configuration

Capacitor Config

{
  "appId": "com.newsly.app",
  "appName": "Newsly",
  "webDir": "dist",
  "server": {
    "androidScheme": "https",
    "cleartext": true,
    "allowNavigation": ["*"]
  },
  "plugins": {
    "CapacitorHttp": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

# .env.local (optional, for future API keys)
NEWS_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
VITE_APP_NAME=Newsly

🎨 Customization

Adding New Countries

1. Update countries.js:

export const countries = [
  // ... existing countries
  { code: 'de', name: 'Germany', flag: '🇩🇪' }
];

2. Country will auto-work with existing RSS feeds

Adding New Categories

1. Update genres.js:

export const genres = [
  // ... existing genres
  { id: 'science', name: 'Science', icon: '🔬', color: 'bg-green-500' }
];

2. Add RSS URL in api.js:

const categoryUrls = {
  // ... existing URLs
  'science': 'https://news.google.com/rss/topics/SCIENCE_RSS_URL'
};

Theming

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        primary: '#your-color',
        secondary: '#your-color'
      }
    }
  }
}

🧪 Testing

# Run linting
npm run lint

# Fix linting issues
npm run lint:fix

# Test on different devices
npm run android  # Android emulator
npm run ios      # iOS simulator (macOS)
npm run dev      # Web browser

📊 Performance

• Bundle Size: ~500KB (gzipped)
• First Load: <2s on 3G
• News Fetch: <1s average
• Country Switch: <500ms
• Offline Support: Cached articles available
• Memory Usage: <50MB on mobile

🔒 Security

• No API Keys: Uses public RSS feeds
• HTTPS Only: All requests encrypted
• No User Data: Everything stored locally
• CORS Handled: Proper cross-origin setup
• Content Security: Sanitized HTML content

🚀 Deployment Options

Web Hosting

• Vercel (Recommended)
• Netlify
• GitHub Pages
• Firebase Hosting

Mobile Distribution

• Google Play Store
• Apple App Store
• Direct APK/IPA distribution
• Enterprise deployment

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open Pull Request

📝 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Google News - RSS feed data source
• Capacitor - Cross-platform framework
• React Team - UI framework
• Tailwind CSS - Styling system
• Lucide - Icon library

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Built with ❤️ by V

Newsly - Stay informed, stay brief.