CofQ
A full-stack exam prep platform for Ontario skilled tradespeople pursuing their Red Seal certification.
Turning scattered study materials into a modern certification platform
Ontario's skilled trades sector requires workers to pass rigorous Red Seal and Certificate of Qualification (CoQ) exams to legally practice their trade. Existing study resources were fragmented — outdated PDFs, disconnected practice sheets, and no way to track progress or identify weak areas.
Boolean Brew built CofQ from scratch: a trade-specific LMS where aspiring electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople can purchase their exam prep course, work through practice questions at their own pace, and see exactly where they stand before exam day.
- — No centralized, digital platform for CoQ exam practice in Ontario
- — Exam content varies by trade; a single platform needed to serve multiple categories
- — Users needed a secure, low-friction way to pay, sign in, and access content
- — Sensitive user data (email, progress) required strong privacy protections
- ✓ Trade-scoped course catalogue with per-trade pricing and Stripe checkout
- ✓ Question-by-question progress tracking with explanations revealed post-answer
- ✓ Magic-link + password auth, database-backed sessions with rolling expiry
- ✓ AES-256-GCM encrypted email storage; answer correctness never sent to the client
Core platform features
Practice Exam Engine
Question-by-question exam flow with multiple-choice answers, instant feedback, and per-question explanations revealed after submission.
Progress Tracking
Per-user, per-course progress stored server-side. Users can see their completion percentage, resume where they left off, and identify weak spots.
Stripe Checkout
Per-trade course pricing with Stripe Checkout. Purchase verification is exclusively via signed webhooks — client success callbacks are never trusted.
Secure Auth
Auth.js v5 with magic link and password flows. Database-backed sessions, bcrypt password hashing, and single-use tokens that expire in 15 minutes.
Admin Dashboard
Role-gated admin panel for managing courses, questions, and users. Content updates are live instantly with no redeployment required.
Transactional Email
Resend-powered emails for magic links, purchase confirmations, and password resets. AES-256-GCM encrypted email storage in the database.
Platform walkthrough
Stack overview
Course management without a redeployment
The admin panel lets content owners add and edit trade courses, manage question banks, and monitor user purchases — all without touching code. Role-gated via the database so admin access is never trust-from-client.
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Create and publish new trade courses instantly
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Add, edit, and reorder questions and answer choices
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Manage user access and purchase history
Building something similar?
Whether it's an LMS, a SaaS platform, or something more bespoke — we scope it, build it, and ship it in 6–10 weeks.