two42

A purpose-built web app for church connection groups — replacing Facebook groups with a warm, simple community platform.

two42 — read "two forty-two," for Acts 2:42: the early church devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer.

two42 was originally built for the Incouragers Sunday small group class at First Redeemer Church — a group of ~150 members who needed a better home than Facebook. Designed for all ages and comfortable on any device, it gives your group a dedicated space for events, announcements, lectures, and community — without the noise of social media.

It's open source and fully configurable, so any small group or church class can fork it, set their name and colors in the database, and have it running in under an hour.

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Origin Story

The Incouragers class at First Redeemer Church needed a simple, welcoming space to replace their Facebook group. Members ranged widely in age and tech comfort — so everything had to be large, readable, and dead-simple to use. No cluttered feeds. No distracting algorithms. Just the group, their events, and their faith.

two42 was built to solve exactly that. It has since been open-sourced so other groups can benefit from the same foundation.

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Why two42?

• Simplicity — Easy to navigate for all ages, no distracting social media noise
• Warmth — Large fonts, readable text, and an inviting design that welcomes everyone
• Affordability — Runs for ~$10–15/year (domain name only — everything else is free)
• Privacy — Your community's data stays yours, not a tech company's
• Customizable — Fork it and brand it as your own; name, colors, and email identity are per-org rows, not a redeploy

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Features

For Members

• Public Home Page — Welcoming hero, upcoming events, latest announcement, and a donation button
• Events Calendar — Browse upcoming gatherings and RSVP (Going / Maybe / Can't Go)
• Lecture Library — Watch past teachings with embedded YouTube videos
• Magic Link Sign-In — No passwords to remember; sign in with just your email
• Member Dashboard — See what's coming up and manage your RSVPs in one place
• Announcements Feed — Members-only updates and community news

For Admins

• Join Request Workflow — Review and approve new members before they get access
• Member Management — Assign roles (member / admin) and manage the roster
• Event Administration — Create, edit, and manage events with public or members-only visibility
• Announcement Posting — Share updates with the whole community instantly
• Lecture Management — Add YouTube video links to build a searchable lesson library
• Site Settings — Update donation URL, directory link, and other settings — no code changes needed
• Email Notifications — Automatic welcome emails on approval and event reminders via scheduled edge functions

Accessibility First

• Large, readable fonts (18px base) designed for all ages
• Mobile-first layout — works great on phones, tablets, and desktops
• High contrast, clear hierarchy, and minimal navigation (3–4 items max)
• Warm, welcoming color palette — not cold or corporate

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Tech Stack

Layer	Choice
Framework	Next.js 16 (App Router) + TypeScript
Styling	Tailwind CSS v4 + shadcn/ui v4
Auth + Database	Supabase (PostgreSQL, RLS, Edge Functions)
Hosting	Vercel (free tier)
Email	Resend (free tier: 3,000 emails/month)
Scheduling	Supabase pg_cron — schedule defined in supabase/migrations/ (event + serving reminders)

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A Supabase account (free)
• A Resend account (free)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/codyhinz/incouragers.git
   cd incouragers
   npm install

2. Set up Supabase

   • Create a new project at supabase.com/dashboard
   • Open the SQL Editor and run the migrations in order:
     1. supabase/migrations/001_schema.sql
     2. supabase/migrations/002_rls.sql
   • Find your keys at Settings → API

3. Configure authentication redirect URLs

   • In Supabase: Authentication → URL Configuration
   • Set Site URL to http://localhost:3000
   • Add to Redirect URLs:
     • http://localhost:3000/api/auth/callback
     • https://yourdomain.com/api/auth/callback (add when deploying)

4. Set up Google Maps API (for event location autocomplete)

   • Go to Google Cloud Console
   • Create a new project or select an existing one
   • Enable the Places API
   • Create an API key at Credentials → Create Credentials → API Key
   • (Optional) Restrict it to your domain(s) under Application restrictions

5. Set up environment variables

   cp .env.example .env.local

   Fill in .env.local:

   NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
   NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=sb_publishable_...
   SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY=sb_secret_...
   RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
   NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=your-api-key-from-google-cloud
   NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL=http://localhost:3000

   NEXT_PUBLIC_ORG_SLUG is optional and defaults to default, which matches the organization the migrations seed. It is sent as the x-two42-org header so anonymous visitors resolve the right tenant — if you set it, it must be the slug of a real row in organizations. Anonymous flows (the /join form, public content) resolve their org from this slug via app_request_org_id(), so a slug that matches no organization makes those flows fail closed rather than fall back to another tenant. See docs/security/tenancy-model.md.

6. Start the dev server

   npm run dev

   Open http://localhost:3000.

Bootstrap Your First Admin

Signups are fail-closed: a new user is only created if their email already has an approved access request or an open family invite. So approve yourself first, then invite yourself, then promote yourself.

1. In Supabase → SQL Editor, approve your own email:

   insert into public.access_requests (org_id, name, email, status, reviewed_at)
   values (
     (select id from public.organizations where slug = 'default'),
     'Your Name', 'you@example.com', 'approved', now()
   );

2. Go to Supabase → Authentication → Users → Invite user and invite that same email

3. Click the magic link in the email to sign in

4. In Table Editor → profiles, find your row and change role to admin

5. Refresh — you'll now have access to the Admin Panel at /admin

Skipping step 1 makes the invite fail with TN001 — signup rejected: no approved access request or invite.

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Customizing for Your Group

Branding lives in the database, in the organizations.branding jsonb column (display_name, logo_url, accent, reply_to). The app shell theme, the tab title, and outbound email all read it per-org at runtime — onboarding a second organization is a database insert, not a redeploy.

Only two environment variables are demoted by this: NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_NAME and NEXT_PUBLIC_COLOR_PRIMARY (see .env.example) survive as last-resort fallback defaults, used when an org's branding row is empty or unreadable. NEXT_PUBLIC_EMAIL_FROM is not a fallback — the sending address is deliberately platform-wide and no branding key can reach it, because SPF/DKIM are configured for that domain; branding varies only the display name and Reply-To. The remaining NEXT_PUBLIC_COLOR_* vars, APP_DESCRIPTION, APP_TAGLINE, and LOGO_MONOGRAM are likewise still platform-wide. Everything else — events, announcements, donation links — is managed through the admin panel at runtime.

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Deploying to Production

1. Push your code to GitHub
2. Connect the repo at vercel.com/new
3. Add all 5 environment variables (same as .env.local, with your production domain for NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL)
4. Only set NEXT_PUBLIC_ORG_SLUG if you renamed the seeded organization or run a different one — it must be the slug of a real organizations row, or the anonymous /join page reports that join requests are unavailable
5. Click Deploy

Then update your Supabase redirect URLs to include your production domain.

Cost Breakdown

Service	Cost
Domain name	~$10–15/yr
Vercel Hobby	Free
Supabase Free	Free
Resend Free	Free
Total	~$1/month

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Project Structure

├── app/
│   ├── page.tsx                  # Public home page
│   ├── events/                   # Events calendar
│   ├── lectures/                 # Lecture library
│   ├── join/                     # Join request form
│   ├── login/                    # Magic link sign-in
│   ├── dashboard/                # Member dashboard
│   ├── announcements/            # Announcements feed
│   └── admin/                    # Admin panel
├── components/
│   ├── layout/                   # Header, Footer
│   ├── events/                   # EventCard, RsvpButton
│   └── announcements/            # AnnouncementCard
├── lib/
│   ├── branding.ts               # ← Reads organizations.branding (the real source of truth)
│   ├── config.ts                 # Last-resort env fallbacks only
│   ├── email/identity.ts         # Per-org From: display name and Reply-To
│   ├── types.ts
│   └── supabase/                 # Auth clients
├── supabase/
│   ├── migrations/               # Run these in Supabase SQL Editor
│   └── functions/                # Edge Function for email reminders
└── .env.example

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Contributing

Found a bug or have a feature idea? Contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
3. Commit your changes and open a Pull Request

For significant changes, please open an issue first to discuss.

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License

Copyright (C) 2026 Cody Waits.

Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). You are free to use, study, modify, and self-host this software. If users remotely interact with a modified version over a network, AGPL section 13 requires that those users be prominently offered a free opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source of that version. See LICENSE for the full terms.

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Originally built with love for the Incouragers class at First Redeemer Church. May it serve many communities well.