Support & Help Desk

Classgrid's Support module provides a full-featured help desk with public ticket creation (no login required), authenticated ticket management, file attachments, admin reply system, ticket lifecycle management, and email + push notifications. All ticket data is stored in MongoDB via the SupportTicket model.

Two Access Modes

1. Public Endpoints (No Login Required)

For marketing site visitors at classgrid.in/support. Users are identified by email only (similar to Zendesk/Brevo).

2. Authenticated Endpoints (Logged-in Platform Users)

For students, faculty, and admins within the platform.

Strict Session Enforcement

All public endpoints pass through enforceStrictSession middleware that prevents:

1. Session Mismatch — If a user is logged in but provides a different email, returns HTTP 403:

   JSON

   { "code": "SESSION_MISMATCH", "message": "You are logged in with a different account." }

2. Registered User Without Login — If the email belongs to a registered platform user and they're NOT logged in, blocks access to existing tickets:

   JSON

   { "code": "SESSION_REQUIRED", "message": "This email is registered on Classgrid. You must log in to access this ticket." }

   Exception: Creating NEW tickets is always allowed.

Public Ticket Creation

API: POST /api/support/public/tickets
Auth: None (public)
Upload: Up to 5 files via multipleUploads("files", 5)

Body (multipart):

{
  "name": "Rahul Sharma",
  "email": "rahul@college.edu",
  "subject": "Cannot access marks page",
  "message": "When I click on Academic Profile, I get a blank screen...",
  "category": "technical",
  "priority": "high",
  "institution": "",
  "role": "student"
}

Two ticket types based on institution field:

• If institution is provided → General Inquiry (Classgrid Talk) — open to anyone
• If institution is empty → Technical Support Ticket — requires registered email with an organization:
  JSON

  { "message": "This email is not registered on Classgrid. Only registered users can raise support tickets." }

  JSON

  { "code": "NO_ORG", "message": "Support tickets can only be raised by users who belong to a registered institution." }

Ticket creation workflow:

1. Validates email, subject (max 200 chars), message
2. Looks up user in MongoDB for profile picture, role, org info
3. Uploads files to Supabase storage bucket support-attachments (path: support_tickets/public/{email}/)
4. Creates SupportTicket with:
   • messages[] — initial message with author info, avatar, org name, org logo
   • events[] — { type: 'ticketCreated', label: 'Ticket submitted' }
   • lastComment — timestamp for sorting
5. Sends confirmation email:
   • Technical: notifyUserOfTicketCreation()
   • Inquiry: notifyUserOfTalkRequestCreation()
6. Notifies all super_admin users via bulkDispatchNotification with push notification

Public Ticket Viewing & Replies

List My Tickets

API: GET /api/support/public/tickets?email=xxx
Auth: Public (with strict session enforcement)

Returns all tickets for the email with:

• replyCount — number of messages minus 1 (excludes initial message)
• lastComment — timestamp of most recent activity
• isPlatformUser — boolean indicating if email is registered
• hasOrganization — boolean indicating if user has an org

View Single Ticket

API: GET /api/support/public/tickets/:id?email=xxx
Auth: Public
Email must match ticket.submitterEmail. Returns full ticket with all messages and events.

Reply to Ticket

API: POST /api/support/public/tickets/:id/reply
Auth: Public (email verified against ticket owner)
Upload: Up to 5 files

Body: { "email": "...", "message": "...", "name": "..." }

Workflow:

1. Validates ticket is not closed
2. Verifies email matches ticket owner
3. Uploads any attachments to Supabase
4. Fetches user's current profile, role, org info from MongoDB
5. Pushes to both ticket.replies[] and ticket.messages[] (dual format for compatibility)
6. Adds event: { type: 'userReply', label: '[Role] replied' }
7. Updates lastComment and lastUserReplyAt
8. If ticket was resolved, reopens it (status → reopened)
9. Otherwise sets status to open
10. Notifies all super admins

Close Ticket

API: POST /api/support/public/tickets/:id/close
Auth: Public (email verified)

Sets status: closed. Adds event: { type: 'statusChanged', label: 'User closed ticket' }.

Authenticated Ticket Creation

API: POST /api/support/tickets
Roles: Any authenticated user with an organization
Upload: Up to 5 files

Same as public creation but:

• Uses req.user._id as submittedBy (ObjectId reference)
• Requires organization_id — blocks orgless accounts:
  JSON

  { "code": "NO_ORG", "message": "Support tickets can only be raised by users who belong to a registered institution." }

• Attaches user's profile picture, role, org name, org logo to the initial message

View My Tickets

API: GET /api/support/tickets
Roles: Any authenticated user

Returns tickets with stats:

{
  "tickets": [...],
  "total": 5,
  "stats": { "open": 2, "inProgress": 1, "resolved": 2 }
}

View Ticket Detail

API: GET /api/support/tickets/:id
Roles: Any authenticated user

Returns full ticket with populated submittedBy and assignedTo fields.

Ticket Lifecycle

Message Format

Each message in ticket.messages[] contains:

Event Timeline

Each ticket tracks events in ticket.events[]:

File Attachments

• Storage: Supabase bucket support-attachments
• Path: support_tickets/{userId}/ (authenticated) or support_tickets/public/{email}/ (public)
• Max files per request: 5
• Each attachment stores: id, name, url (storage_path), mimeType, size, uploadedAt

Email Notifications

All via support-ticket-email.service.js

Push Notifications to Super Admins

Every ticket action sends push notifications to all super_admin users:

• New ticket: "New Support Ticket: [subject]"
• New inquiry: "New Inquiry: [subject]"
• User reply: "New Reply (Public): [subject]"
• Link: /superadmin/support/view/{ticketId}

Key Models

SupportTicket Schema Key Fields

subject, message, category, priority, status, submitterEmail, submitterName, submitterRole, submittedBy (ObjectId), organization_id, assignedTo (ObjectId), messages[], replies[], events[], attachments[], lastComment, lastUserReplyAt, institution