Architex: System Design Practice Platform

Architex was a university project built around a specific gap: no practical environment exists for practicing system design with real feedback. Drawing diagrams and getting them reviewed is a different exercise than reading about architecture.

The platform embeds Excalidraw for diagram creation, with a full workflow around it: students create drafts, submit them for review, and reviewers score and annotate the submissions. The role-based system (student, reviewer, admin) enforces who can do what at each stage.

The backend is Express with SQLite, keeping deployment simple. JWT handles authentication, and every workflow transition is validated server-side: a student can't mark their own submission as reviewed, a reviewer can't score a draft that hasn't been submitted.