Milestone: Initial working SPA (Thymeleaf, HTMX, AlpineJS, and Daisy UI)

Author: aks8m

.gitignore

@@ -228,3 +228,5 @@ Temporary Items
 ###################
 **.zip
 htmlReport
+/node
+/node_modules

README.md

@@ -1,42 +1,50 @@
-# Title
+# Beacon
 
-|| Description about the Project ||
+Beacon is a Spring Boot MVC web app scaffold that uses:
 
-### Team Ownership - Product Owner
+- **Thymeleaf** for server-side rendering
+- **HTMX** for partial page updates
+- **DaisyUI** for polished UI components
+- **AlpineJS** for lightweight client-side behavior
 
-Team Ownership - Product Owner
+The starter includes a responsive top navigation, a hero section, an HTMX-loaded status card, and a styled footer.
 
-## Getting Started
+## Requirements
 
-Required for running this:
+- Java 25
+- Apache Maven 3.9.16+ or the included Maven Wrapper
 
-1. Download and install Java 24 (Azul)
-2. Download and install Apache Maven 3.9.11 or later
-3. Download and install Git
+## Run locally
 
-## Building and Running
+### Unix/Linux/macOS
 
-Follow the steps below to build and run Komet on your local machine:
+```bash
+./mvnw spring-boot:run
+```
 
-1. Clone the repository from GitHub to your local machine
+### Windows
 
-2. Change local directory to cloned repo location
+```bash
+./mvnw.cmd spring-boot:run
+```
 
-3. Enter the following command to build the application:
+Open the app at [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080).
 
-Unix/Linux/OSX:
+## Build and test
 
 ```bash
-./mvnw clean install
+./mvnw clean test
 ```
 
-Windows:
+## Project structure
 
-```bash
-./mvnw.cmd clean install
-```
+- `src/main/java` - Spring Boot application and MVC controller
+- `src/main/resources/templates` - Thymeleaf views and fragments
+- `src/main/resources/static` - Small custom CSS overrides
+- `src/test/java` - MVC tests for the home page and HTMX fragment
 
 ## Issues and Contributions
+
 Technical and non-technical issues can be reported to the [Issue Tracker](https://github.com/ikmdev/repo-seed/issues).
 
 Contributions can be submitted via pull requests. Please check the [contribution guide](doc/how-to-contribute.md) for more details.