CourseCompass

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What this is

CourseCompass injects an "Analyze" button into Hoos' List/SIS course pages and returns a short, sourced summary for a professor/course (RateMyProfessors + Reddit + GitHub). It's a lightweight assistant to help students pick sections with better fit and workload visibility.

If you're like me and you don't want to open 15 tabs just to figure out if a section is a good idea, this puts the “should I take this?” signal directly where you already register.

Quick links

• Chrome Web Store listing: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/agmlnkmkjbjkkhjejoodckjgmafnnifm?utm_source=item-share-cb
• Extension folder: /extension
• Backend folder: /backend

Features

• Adds an Analyze button next to instructors on Hoos' List pages.
• Aggregates public signal from:
  • RateMyProfessors (GraphQL)
  • Reddit discussion threads
  • GitHub repos (nice for project-heavy classes)
• Returns a short summary + any numeric rating we can confidently extract.
• Server-side caching (Postgres) to avoid repeated scraping.

Table of contents

• Overview
• Features
• Architecture
• Install & run locally
• API
• Troubleshooting
• Project structure
• Contact & privacy

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Architecture

• Client: Chrome extension (Manifest V3) — injects buttons and shows a tooltip with results.
• Server: Spring Boot backend — orchestrates scraping, aggregates results, caches them in PostgreSQL.

High-level request flow:

1. You click Analyze on Hoos' List.
2. The extension sends { prof, course } to the backend.
3. Backend checks cache → scrapes on cache miss → stores result → returns JSON.

Data flow

Install & run locally

Chrome extension:

1. Open chrome://extensions in Chrome.
2. Enable Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked and choose the extension/ directory.

Backend (local):

1. Edit backend/src/main/resources/application.properties or set the DB_* environment variables.
2. From repo root:

cd backend
mvn spring-boot:run

3. Health: http://localhost:8080/health

When testing the extension locally, change API_BASE in extension/content.js to http://localhost:8080/api/v1/analyze and reload the extension.

API

GET /api/v1/analyze

Query params:

• prof (required): professor name (usually Last, First)
• course (required): course id like CS 3240

Example:

curl "http://localhost:8080/api/v1/analyze?prof=Sherriff,%20Mark&course=CS%203240"

Response (shape):

• professorName: string
• courseId: string
• avgRating: number | null
• sentimentSummary: string
• redditTopThreads: string[]
• githubTopRepos: string

Troubleshooting

The Analyze button doesn't show up

• Make sure the extension is loaded from extension/ and reloaded after changes.
• Confirm you’re on a supported page: hooslist.virginia.edu or sis.virginia.edu.

Clicking Analyze shows an error

• Open DevTools → Console and look for a network error.
• Confirm the backend is reachable:
  • Local: http://localhost:8080/health
  • Deployed: https://course-compass-api.onrender.com/health

Works locally but not on Render

• Check Render logs for DB connection errors.
• Ensure env vars are set (especially DB_PASSWORD).

Project structure

/extension  # chrome extension (manifest + content script)
/backend    # Spring Boot API (controllers, services, model)
Dockerfile
render.yaml

Contact & privacy

Aryan Thodupunuri — https://github.com/AryanThodupunuri

Privacy: this extension reads professor names and course identifiers from Hoos' List pages and sends them to the CourseCompass backend to compute a short summary. No personal identifiers or browsing history are collected.

Full policy: PRIVACY_POLICY.md

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Licensed under the MIT License.